Gilead Sciences remains an attractive takeover target for major drugmakers because of its promising pipeline and consistent revenue, primarily from HIV medicines Viread, Truvada and Atripla. However, a takeover of the biotech firm may prove difficult because Gilead’s growth strategy has always focused on “building a very strong independent company,” Chief Operating Officer John Milligan said.
Big drug companies, hungry for the new products developed by innovative biomedical outfits, have escalated their acquisitions. For years they’ve been purchasing small biotech outfits, but now they’re moving up the food chain to the industry’s large fry. Chiron Corp. of Emeryville, founded in 1981, was snapped up by Novartis in 2006. And the oldest and biggest of the Bay area’s three star firms, Genentech Inc. of South San Francisco, may bow to a takeover offer from another Swiss drugmaker, Roche, this year.
Meanwhile, Gilead has been shooting up the biotech ranks through steady growth of its HIV drugs. With a market capitalization of $48 billion, it’s nipping at the heels of biotech giant Amgen Inc., which ranks second in the world to Genentech. Gilead plans to double its floor space through a construction boom at its Foster City headquarters, and more than double its workforce of 3,200 by 2017. The company is charging ahead as though no outside buyer is going to chart its destiny.
But after Roche stunned Genentech with a purchase offer last month, no biotech company of any size has been considered safe from a takeover bid. Gilead could be seen as a tempting morsel, said John McCamant, editor of the Medical Technology Stock Letter in Berkeley.
Filed under: News Wire | Tagged: Buyout, Gilead Sciences, Novartis, Roche, takeover
