The latest news on mergers and acquisitions featuring Sandoz/Coherus and Sun Pharma/Taro. Highlights below. 

* Sandoz To Acquire Rights to Biosimilar of Roche’s Lucentis from Coherus 
* Sun Pharma To Acquire Remaining Stake in Taro    

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Sandoz To Acquire Rights to Biosimilar of Roche’s Lucentis from Coherus    
Sandoz, the former generic and biosimilar business of Novartis and now a stand-alone company, has agreed to acquire Cimerli (ranibizumab-eqrn), a biosimilar of Roche’s Lucentis, from Coherus BioSciences, a Redwood City, California-based bio/pharmaceutical company, for an upfront cash purchase payment of $170 million. 

Cimerli is a US Food and Drug Administration-approved biosimilar indicated for the treatment of multiple retinal diseases, including wet age-related macular degeneration, diabetic macular edema, macular edema following retinal vein occlusion, myopic choroidal neovascularization, and diabetic retinopathy. 

The acquisition is inclusive of a biologics license application, product inventory, ophthalmology sale, and field reimbursement talent, as well as access to proprietary commercial software. 

Closing is anticipated in the first half of 2024, subject to standard conditions and approvals. 

Source: Sandoz 

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Sun Pharma To Acquire Remaining Stake in Taro 
Sun Pharmaceutical Industries, a Mumbai, India-based bio/pharmaceutical company, has agreed to acquire the remaining stake in Taro Pharmaceutical Industries, a Haifa Bay, Israel-based bio/pharmaceutical company, which it does not already own, for $43 a share (approximately $348 million). Sun Pharma now holds a controlling interest in Taro. Sun Pharma had initially proposed a merger for its remaining stake in Taro for $38 per share in May (May 2023). 

The Boards of both companies have approved the merger, which is subject to various closing conditions. Sun Pharma has agreed to vote its shares in favor of the merger and has indicated that it is not willing to sell its shares to a third party or support any alternative transaction to the merger. Upon the merger’s completion, currently expected to close in the first half of 2024, Taro will become a privately held company. 

Source: Sun Pharma