Jazz To Buy Chimerix For $935 Mln To Boost Oncology Portfolio, CMRX Up In Pre-Market

(RTTNews) - Jazz Pharmaceuticals Plc. (JAZZ), Wednesday announced a deal to acquire Chimerix Inc. (CMRX) for $8.55 per share in cash, or a total consideration of around $935 million.

Under the terms, Jazz will commence an all-cash tender offer to acquire all CMRX shares, whereby Chimerix shareholders will receive $8.55 per share in cash, reflecting around 72 percent premium based on the closing trading price on March 4.

Jazz expects to fund the transaction through existing cash and investments. The deal will be closed in the second-quarter of 2025.

Chimerix's lead clinical asset is Dordaviprone, a novel first-in-class small molecule treatment in development for H3 K27M-mutant diffuse glioma, a rare, high-grade brain tumor that impacts children and young adults.

Bruce Cozadd, CEO of Jazz, said: "Adding dordaviprone to our oncology R&D pipeline will further diversify our portfolio with a medicine that addresses a significant unmet need with no other FDA-approved therapies and limited treatment options for this patient population. If approved, dordaviprone has the potential to rapidly become a standard of care for a rare oncology disease and also contribute durable revenue beginning in the near-term." The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has set a target Prescription Drug User Fee Act action date of August 18 for Dordaviprone in recurrent H3 K27M-mutant diffuse glioma. If approved in the U.S., Dordaviprone may be eligible for a rare pediatric disease priority review voucher.

In addition, Dordaviprone is being studied in the ongoing Phase 3 ACTION trial, evaluating its use in newly diagnosed, non-recurrent H3 K27M-mutant diffuse glioma patients following radiation treatment.

CMRX was up by 4.64 percent at $5.190 in the pre-market trade on the Nasdaq.