The drugmaker pool just got a little narrower as Albireo (NASDAQ:ALBO) will sell out to Ipsen. The nine-figure deal will give Ipsen quite a bit of new ammunition in its fight against the disease. As a result, Albireo nearly doubled in Monday’s trading,
Ipsen’s purchase of Albireo will give Ipsen access to a range of medications, particularly those used in fighting issues of bile acid modulators. Issues in said modulators can cause some liver diseases in both children and adults. It was a good time to buy Albireo, too; it recently had a treatment approved by the FDA. The treatment in question, Bylvay, targets pruritus in all cases of a disease called “progressive familial intrahepatic cholestasis.” It’s also looking for approval to treat Alagille syndrome.
Ipsen is in the midst of something like upheaval right now; last year, it sold its consumer health operations, a move that brought in 350 million euros for the company. It also bought Epizyme for $250 million and licensed a pair of T-cell receptor therapies from Marengo. That set Ipsen back $1.6 billion, reports noted.
Interestingly, the last five days of trading for Albireo show that the company was largely flat until Ipsen stepped in. Albireo shares kept to a fairly tight range between $21 and $23, though shares started to trend upward over the five-day period. Then, not surprisingly, came the news of a buyout, which sent shares of Albireo spiking to more than double over the five-day period.
