BUZZ-Barclays views Lilly, J&J as top acquirers in Abivax bid talk

Reuters12-11
BUZZ-Barclays views Lilly, J&J as top acquirers in Abivax bid talk

** Barclays says speculation of takeover interest for French biotech firm Abivax ABVX.PA "should not be surprising" given the compelling clinical profile of its inflammatory bowel disease $(IBD)$ drug obefazimod

** Barclays sees Eli Lilly LLY.N and Johnson & Johnson JNJ.N as the "most logical" acquirers to better compete with AbbVie ABBV.N in IBD. Says Pfizer PFE.N could also be interested depending on its business development ambitions

** It sees Federal Trade Commission risk as low for Lilly; higher for J&J due to existing IBD assets

** Abivax rose by over 20% on Wednesday on market rumours about takeover interest from Eli Lilly. Both Abivax and Lilly declined to comment

** Based on deals worth over $2 billion since 2024, Barclays estimates theoretical acquisition price of around $9-10 billion, close to Abivax's current enterprise value

** Abivax shares have surged over 1,500% this year on positive ulcerative colitis drug data

** The stock was down 2% on Thursday, as of 1506 GMT

(Reporting by Danilo Masoni, editing by Alun John)

((Danilo.Masoni@TR.com; Reuters Messaging: danilo.masoni.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net))

Disclaimer: Investing carries risk. This is not financial advice. The above content should not be regarded as an offer, recommendation, or solicitation on acquiring or disposing of any financial products, any associated discussions, comments, or posts by author or other users should not be considered as such either. It is solely for general information purpose only, which does not consider your own investment objectives, financial situations or needs. TTM assumes no responsibility or warranty for the accuracy and completeness of the information, investors should do their own research and may seek professional advice before investing.

Comments

We need your insight to fill this gap
Leave a comment