MedImmune accepts $15.6 billion buy-out offer
AstraZeneca outbids Merck and others to get its hands on the FluMist vaccine
Big news for Gaithersburg, Maryland-based MedImmune, a major drugmaker best known to our readers for its FDA-approved FluMist flu vaccine. The company has been under heavy fire from investors for its lagging share price, and yesterday the board of directors responded — not with anger but with greenbacks, announcing that British industry heavyweight AstraZeneca would buy the company for $15.6 billion in cash, or $58 per share. (That represents a 53 percent premium on the price from the date MedImmune announced it was seeking a buyer. Other bidders included Merck and Eli Lilly.) The deal is expected to close in June 2007 and is expected to “allow AstraZeneca to join the ranks of other major European vaccine makers, including GlaxoSmithKline,” MarketWatch reported. MedImmune’s operations will likely be merged with another recent AstraZeneca acquisition, Cambridge Antibody Technology, and all MedImmune employees will receive a bonus to stay on.
