GlaxoSmithKline Will Receive $140B+ Bid in Q4, From Suitors Including Pfizer and AstraZeneca PLC: Poll
July 1, 2015
By Riley McDermid, BioSpace.com Breaking News Sr. Editor
A majority of survey participants polled last week by BioSpace said they believe GlaxoSmithKline will be acquired in 2015, as the market continues to reverberate from an analyst note that suggest a new company combination dubbed “PfizerKline” would be the best option for the struggling company.
The poll surveying 405 respondents globally found that a quarter believed Glaxo would be bought for between $140 billion to $150 billion, while another 25 percent thought it would have a $150 billion to $160 billion price tag. The remainder said they thought Glaxo would get a bid in excess of $160 billion, with 12 percent responding they didn’t believe any bid would be forthcoming.
Rumors have been swirling that Swiss-based Roche and U.S.-based Johnson & Johnson are eying the U.K. company for approximately $143 billion. But Roche and J&J aren’t the only companies though who have been thought could go after the elephant that is Glaxo.
Last month there was buzz that Pfizer Inc. was considering acquiring Glaxo, a year after it failed to acquire AstraZeneca PLC . Just this month over a third of respondents in a poll conducted by BioSpace (DHX) believe that AstraZeneca PLC could be in the running to acquire struggling GlaxoSmithKline (GSK).
Our BioSpace poll confirmed that industry insiders certainly believe that’s a possibility, with 40 percent of the 405 respondents saying they think Pfizer will bid for Glaxo, 17 percent betting on a bid from Roche, 16 percent for a Johnson & Johnson attempt and 12 percent believing AstraZeneca will reach for Glaxo. Seventeen percent said they didn’t believe any of those companies would be bidders.
As for the timing of the deal? Forty-two percent said they believed Glaxo will get a bid in the fourth quarter of 2015, with 27 percent betting on the third quarter.
The majority of the respondents in this week’s poll were from the United States, with 70 percent of the 136 participants based in America. Three percent hailed from the United Kingdom, while the rest hailed from a host of countries including Israel, India, Mexico, Belgium, Germany, Italy, Ireland, Greece, Switzerland, Sweden, Lebanon, Portugal and Canada. Three percent of respondents declined to identify their country of domicile.
For states, California led the pack, with 16 percent of the poll’s respondents based in that state. New Jersey followed with 15 percent, then New York and Pennsylvania at 7 percent. The rest were distributed throughout the U.S.
After Bristol-Myers Squibb Wonder Drug Meets Endpoints, Will FDA Process Be Up to Snuff?
Our most popular story last week was about a new wonder drug that wowed the FDA. An experimental anticoagulant drug under joint development between Portola Pharmaceuticals, Inc., Bristol-Myers Squibb Company and Pfizer Inc. met all primary and secondary endpoints in a Phase III study determining safety and efficacy—and our readers responded. The hope now is it will be sped to patients as fast as possible.
That’s lead BioSpace to ask, what do you think about the drug approval process in this country? Let us know your ideas.