Sanofi-Aventis’ New Deals (NYSE:SNY)

Though Sanofi-Aventis have been talking about their big pharma plans, it was today when they announced about their new billion-dollar plans. The company today announced their plans to acquire France’s Fovea Pharmaceuticals and MA-based Merrimack Pharmaceuticals for around US$ 530 million. Sanofi-Aventis announced that are all ready and prepared to spend the mentioned amount to make sure they wrap up both the deals quickly.

France’s Fovea Pharmaceuticals is an eye-disease biotech and Merrimack Pharmaceuticals that is based in Cambridge, MA is an in-license antibody cancer program.  Sanofi-Aventis has clearly announced that they are willing to cash up to 15 billion euro to restructure the management and projects in pipeline and would like to commit up to US$ 542 million to swiftly complete the acquisition process and make their first impression in the field of ophthalmology. Chris Viehbacher of Sanofi-Aventis mentioned that the acquisition of Fovea Pharmaceuticals would help Sanofi-Aventis to strengthen their R&D portfolio and focus on new approaches in the future.

On the other hand, Sanofi-Aventis has inked a deal with Merrimack Pharmaceuticals where Sanofi-Aventis would pay US$ 60 million for the full rights to MM-121, an antibody to block the ErbB3 receptor. However, in this deal, Merrimack Pharmaceuticals will go ahead with the development of Phase II proof of concept and Sanofi-Aventis will later pick up the development work from there. The news of these deals did not have much impact on the shares of Sanofi-Aventis, but many market analysts and investors would keep a watchful eye on the deals by Sanofi-Aventis.

Further talking about the company’s plans, Chris Viehbacher said that Sanofi-Aventis would like to diversify the company’s disease area and are looking for new products and medications that would add value to their profile and expand in biotechnology-based products.