Millennium outbids Genzyme and secures AnorMED for $515 million or $12 per share

The USA's Millennium Pharmaceuticals has signed an agreement to acquire AnorMED at $12.00 per outstanding share, for a total price of approximately $515.0 million. The deal, which values the Vancouver, Canada-based drugmaker at a 21% premium over its September 25 closing price, allows the US firm to acquire AnorMED's late-stage hematology-oncology product, Mozobil.

Shares in Cambridge, Massachussetts-based Millennium finished unchanged at $10.15 on September 26, the day of the news, while AnorMED's stock, which began trading on the Nasdaq on September 8, rose 28% to close at $12.74.

Millenniumm, which out-bid an earlier $380.0 million offer from US biotechnology major Genzyme, expects to launch Mozobil in the USA in 2008 subject to successful completion of clinical trials and regulatory approval. The small-molecule CXCR4 chemokine antagonist works by releasing stem cells from the bone marrow into the circulation, improving the ability to collect the stem cells for transplant, offering a potential cure for patients with certain hematological malignancies. Currently. 50,000 - 60,000 transplant-eligible patients worldwide are unable to optimize the benefit of transplant due to sub-optimal stem-cell collection.