Astellas acquiring Ganymed

Astellas Pharma Inc. (Tokyo:4503) is acquiring cancer company Ganymed Pharmaceuticals AG (Mainz, Germany) for EUR 422 million ($459.4 million) in cash. Ganymed shareholders are also eligible for up to EUR 860 million ($936.2 million) in undisclosed milestones tied to the development of Ganymed's lead candidate IMAB362.

In June, detailed data presented at the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) meeting showed IMAB362 plus chemotherapy led to longer overall survival (OS) and progression-free survival (PFS) than chemotherapy alone in the Phase II FAST study to treat gastric or gastroesophageal junction cancer (see BioCentury, June 6). ...