In recent months, Vanda Pharmaceuticals has been busy working to grow its commercial presence through its acquisition of Johnson & Johnson's Ponvory and its recent bipolar disorder approval for Fanapt. It seems the company's efforts are not going unnoticed.
Thursday, the England-based rare disease drugmaker Cycle Pharmaceuticals revealed an $8-per-share offer for Vanda, representing a total buyout offer of $466 million.
In a statement (PDF), Vanda said it will "carefully review and evaluate the indication of interest to determine the course of action that the board believes is in the best interests of Vanda and its shareholders."
Cycle, for its part, said it "would have preferred to reach an agreement privately." The company is releasing details of the proposal "to encourage Vanda shareholders to express their views" to the board, Cycle said in its own statement.
The proposal comes shortly after the privately held, Michigan-based CDMO Future Pak sought to buy Vanda for $7.25 to $7.75 per share.
In response to that offer, Vanda argued that the Future Pak bid "significantly" undervalued the company. To ward off the unwanted encroachment, Vanda's board employed a "poison pill" strategy to discourage any shareholders from acquiring more than 10% of the company's shares.
Vanda markets non-24-hour sleep-wake disorder medicine Hetlioz and Fanapt for schizophrenia and bipolar I disorder. Besides those drugs, the company recently completed its $100 million deal to purchase multiple sclerosis therapy Ponvory from Johnson & Johnson.
Late last month, the company said it was working to establish a "specialty sales force, a prescriber awareness program and a comprehensive marketing" campaign to support its planned Ponvory rollout.
As for Cycle Pharmaceuticals, the company markets six drugs in the U.S. The firm's focus is on rare metabolic, immunological and neurological genetic diseases.
Vanda's shareholders are likely enjoying the recent takeout offers. Vanda's share price spiked nearly 30% on Thursday morning to about $6.50.
Before the Future Pak revelations, Vanda shares were trading at about $4.