Genzyme rejects Sanofi’s $18.5bn bid; IPT looks at biotech’s turbulent 18-months

Genzyme has rejected Sanofi-Aventis' $18.5bn (€14.5bn) takeover bid, describing it as offering no improvement in price on the previous proposal and failing “to establish a basis for engagement.”

CEO Henri Termeer said: “Without exception, each member of the Genzyme board believes this is not the right time to sell the company, because your opportunistic takeover proposal does not begin to recognize the significant progress underway to rectify our manufacturing challenges or the potential for our new-product pipeline.”

In particular, he suggested that Sanofi had not taken the “tremendous future upside” of Genzyme’s multiple sclerosis treatment alemtuzumab, or recent increases in supply of its key Gaucher’s disease drug Cerezyme, into account in its valuation.

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