Sanofi Bets Big On mRNA Push With Translate Bio Acquisition For $3.2B: Highlights

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  • A year after paying Translate Bio Inc TBIO a whopping $425 million to develop mRNA vaccines for infectious diseases, including COVID-19, Sanofi SA SNY has announced a $3.2 billion buyout for Translate Bio.
  • Sanofi will pay $38 in cash for each of Translate Bio's shares, a 30% premium to Monday's closing price of $29.15. 
  • Sanofi has run into a vortex of issues trying to develop a more traditional vaccine against COVID-19, a situation that forced the pharma to restart its R&D engine after an initial failure.
  • Sanofi recently announced to invest billions of dollars to build out its "end-to-end" internal capabilities in mRNA technology.
  • Today's news fits in neatly with that strategic priority. The messenger RNA (ribonucleic acid) approach instruct human cells to make specific proteins that produce an immune response to a given disease.
  • Sanofi and Translate Bio have been working together since 2018 and joined forces last year to develop an mRNA-based COVID-19 vaccine. 
  • The Phase 1/2 trial was initiated in March, and interim results are expected in Q3 of 2021.
  • The Companies recently launched an influenza vaccine trial, with interim data from the trial expected in Q4 of 2021.
  • Translate Bio, set up in 2016, has not launched any drugs on the market. Still, its clinical-stage pulmonary product using its mRNA platform is being tested as an inhaled treatment for cystic fibrosis in a Phase 1/2 trial.
  • Price Action: TBIO shares are up 29.3% at $37.70, and SNY stock is up 0.3% at $51.76 during the premarket session on the last check Tuesday.
  • Image by Wilfried Pohnke from Pixabay
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