Asahi Kasei has unveiled plans to acquire Aicuris in a deal worth 780 million euros ($920 million), marking the latest in a series of biotech M&A deals in recent weeks.
For Asahi, the deal enables the Japanese conglomerate to add several approved and investigational assets designed to treat and protect against viral infections in immunocompromised individuals.
Asahi’s U.S. subsidiary Veloxis Pharmaceuticals will execute the acquisition of Germany’s Aicuris, growing Asahi’s R&D portfolio by adding candidates designed to treat patients experiencing complications connected to hematopoietic stem cell transplants, solid organ transplants and other immunologically driven conditions, according to the Feb. 26 release.
Aicuris spun out of Bayer in 2006, and, by 2010, had raised $75 million to focus on antiviral and antibacterial compounds. In 2012, Aicuris entered into an agreement with Merck to bring its flagship transplant infection prevention product, Prevymis, to market.
The FDA approved Prevymis in November 2017, and Merck recently reported that it generated $978 million, making it the pharma’s ninth-highest-grossing drug last year.
Asahi’s move will also give it access to candidates in Aicuris’ pipeline, including a herpes simplex therapy that has generated positive phase 3 results and a phase 2-ready antiviral for kidney transplant patients to protect them from the “potentially severe consequence” of BK virus, according to the release.
The Aicuris purchase “supports the thoughtful, stepwise expansion of our pipeline while reinforcing our strong and sustainable growth trajectory,” Asahi Kasei’s healthcare sector lead, Ken Shinomiya, said in a statement.
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The deal marks the second acquisition by Asahi in less than two years after it made a billion-dollar offer for Sweden’s Calliditas Therapeutics in May 2024, which followed the FDA approval of Calliditas’ immunoglobulin A nephropathy treatment. Asahi also strengthened its antibody manufacturing capabilities by acquiring CDMO Bionova in 2022.
And, just yesterday, Asahi announced a global license agreement with small-molecule drug specialist Alchemedicine to bolster Asahi’s drug discovery pipeline.
As for the Aicuris buyout, the acquisition stands to accelerate the biotech’s research and launch readiness in the U.S. while expanding the reach of the company’s therapies for immunocompromised patients, CEO Larry Edwards said in a statement.
The Asehi Kasei transaction is expected to close in the first half of this year.
Elsewhere, the biotech M&A scene has come alive lately, with GSK this week paying $950 million for Canadian biotech 35Pharma. In addition, just this month, Gilead Sciences forked over $7.8 billion for its CAR-T partner Arcellx, and Eli Lilly spent $2.4 billion on Orna Therapeutics.
