Bristol Myers Squibb Completes Acquisition of RayzeBio, Adding Differentiated Actinium-Based Radiopharmaceutical Platform
Bristol Myers Squibb announced that it has successfully completed its acquisition of RayzeBio, Inc. With the completion of the acquisition, RayzeBio shares have ceased trading on the NASDAQ Global Market and RayzeBio is now a wholly owned subsidiary of Bristol Myers Squibb.
“We are excited to complete this transaction, which adds radiopharmaceutical therapeutics (RPTs), one of the fastest-growing new modalities for treating patients with solid tumors,” said Chris Boerner, Ph.D., Chief Executive Officer, Bristol Myers Squibb. “By strengthening and further diversifying our oncology pipeline beyond I-O, we will unlock exciting opportunities that support BMS’s growth in the back half of the decade and beyond. RayzeBio is a pioneer in the application of this novel modality, and we look forward to working with their talented team to accelerate their preclinical and clinical programs for the benefit of patients around the world.”
This transaction brings a promising pipeline of RPTs to Bristol Myers Squibb, including RayzeBio’s lead program RYZ101 (225Ac-DOTATATE), which targets somatostatin receptor 2 (SSTR2), over-expressed in GEP-NETs and extensive stage small cell lung cancer (ES-SCLC). A Phase 3 clinical trial is currently enrolling patients to evaluate RYZ101 in patients with SSTR-positive GEP-NETs who have previously been treated with lutetium-177 based somatostatin therapies. RayzeBio previously reported the interim results of the Phase 1b portion of the ACTION-1 clinical trial, suggesting encouraging efficacy and tolerability. A Phase 1b clinical trial is also currently enrolling patients to evaluate RYZ101 as a first-line treatment of ES-SCLC in combination with standard-of-care therapy. The platform has the potential to be a significant IND engine to generate a number of candidates and comes with a state-of-the-art RPT manufacturing facility, which is expected to begin operating in the first half of 2024.
Bristol Myers Squibb’s previously announced tender offer to acquire all of the outstanding shares of RayzeBio common stock for a purchase price of $62.50 per share in cash, or approximately $4.1 billion, expired at one minute after 11:59 p.m., Eastern Time on February 22, 2024. Approximately 53,052,499 shares of RayzeBio common stock were validly tendered, and not validly withdrawn from the tender offer, representing approximately 86% of RayzeBio’s issued and outstanding shares of common stock. In accordance with the terms of the tender offer, all shares that were validly tendered and not validly withdrawn have been accepted for payment and Bristol Myers Squibb expects to promptly pay for all such shares.
Following completion of the tender offer, Bristol Myers Squibb completed the acquisition of RayzeBio through the merger of its wholly owned subsidiary Rudolph Merger Sub Inc. with and into RayzeBio, without a vote of RayzeBio’s stockholders pursuant to Section 251(h) of the General Corporation Law of the State of Delaware. As a result of the merger, each share of common stock of RayzeBio issued and outstanding and not tendered in the tender offer was converted into the right to receive an amount in cash equal to $62.50, without interest and less any required withholding taxes, the same price offered in the tender offer.