Buyout Target List Compiled by Biogen

Biogen is sinking more and deeper into the quagmire that is Aduhelm, a medication for Alzheimer’s disease. The Big Biotech is thought to be evaluating many strategic choices, as any distressed corporation might. Stat claims that has hired Goldman Sachs to develop a list of potential acquisition targets, citing a source familiar with the businesses’ dealings.

According to Stat, Goldman’s squad has included several smaller neuroscience players. Biohaven Pharmaceuticals, which makes the fast-growing migraine treatment Nurtec ODT, Aurinia Pharmaceuticals, which has the FDA-approved lupus treatment Lupkynis, and Amylyx Pharmaceuticals, which is preparing for an IPO amid an FDA filing for an amyotrophic lateral sclerosis candidate, are among them.

Biogen has found itself in this situation because the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services suggested limiting Aduhelm’s Medicare coverage to patients enrolled in approved clinical studies, limiting the drug’s availability to only a few thousand people. Biogen has already halved Aduhelm’s price and begun working on the details of a restructure before the CMS proposal. In the following months, the business hopes to provide more specifics about the makeover, which is expected to save $500 million every year.

If the CMS regulation is implemented, Biogen CEO Michel Vounatsos told investors on a conference call Thursday that “further waves” of reshuffles will occur to preserve the company’s bottom line. In 2019, paid $800 million for Nightstar Therapeutics, a British gene therapy company. Both of the gene treatments for eye diseases that came with the transaction have now failed in clinical testing. Syed used the deal to demonstrate that Biogen prefers to buy early-stage candidates who “don’t really shift the needle” in the short run.