ACTELION ZURICH (Reuters) - Johnson & Johnson (>> Johnson & Johnson) will buy Actelion (>> Actelion Ltd), Europe's biggest biotech company, in a $30 billion deal that will also carve out a listed biopharmaceutical development company run by Actelion Chief Executive Jean-Paul Clozel.
Actelion's drugs to treat pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) - the deadly buildup of pressure in the vessels carrying blood from the heart to the lungs - all go to J&J, but the transaction divides up other drugs Actelion is developing.
Analysts expect Opsumit to generate $1.5 billion in annual sales by 2020 and Uptravi to reach more than $3 billion that year, helping offset generic competition to Tracleer, which lost U.S. patent protection in 2015.
As part of the transaction, J&J also gets an option on ACT-132577, a version of Opsumit within the new R&D company being developed for resistant hypertension and now in phase 2 clinical development.
The new Swiss-listed public company being created will be capitalized with 1 billion Swiss francs ($1 billion). J&J will own 16 percent and hold rights to another 16 percent. Actelion shareholders will get one share in the new company for every Actelion share.
The R&D company will hold rights to a portfolio of drug candidates in clinical development for specialty cardiovascular disorders, central nervous system illnesses, immunological disorders and orphan diseases.
Those include Cenerimod, for autoimmune diseases; Clazosentan, for cerebral vasospasm postaneurismal subarachnoid haemorrhage (aSAH); and an orexin receptor antagonist for insomnia.
(Reporting by John Miller)
