Vernalis is "worth the wait," according to Edison

The proposed £65.9 million ($104 million) equity raise (net of costs) by UK biotech firm Vernalis (LSE: VER) and multi-product in-licensing deal with private US company Tris Pharma (The Pharma Letter February 14) are the latest steps in its business transformation strategy, note analysts at Edison Investment Research.

While the company has made progress in its clinical pipeline and in balancing investment in research, pipeline expansion through M&A was always the most important facet of its three-part strategy to become a diversified, profitable and sustainable specialty pharma company. The scope of the Tris deal and the size of the addressable market mean that Vernalis is a step closer to this goal, the analysts opine.

Coughing up for a multi-product licence with Tris Pharma