BioMarin Pharmaceutical Inc., with five drugs in clinical trials, is seeking to buy smaller companies to expand its pipeline for treatment of rare diseases, not be acquired itself, Chief Executive Officer Jean-Jacques Bienaime said in an interview. The number of trials is the most ever at one time for BioMarin, a maker of drugs for rare diseases, Bienaime said. The Novato, California-based company will follow a similar acquisition strategy to one used for purchases such as Zystor Therapeutics Inc., which BioMarin bought in 2010 for $22 million in upfront cash. That acquisition gained the company a medicine now being tested for Pompe disease, a muscle-disabling disorder.
