Bristol Myers Squibb acquires Karuna Therapeutics for €12.7 million

2023-12-22 20:05:38

Bristol Myers Squibb (BMS) expands its portfolio. The biopharmaceutical company has announced the purchase of the American laboratory Karuna Therapeutics, specialized in treatments for schizophrenia and Alzheimer’s. The operation has been carried out after a definitive agreement by which the 330 dollars (299.7 euros) per share in cash for a total equity value of 14 million dollars (12.7 million euros), or 12.7 million net dollars (11.7 million euros). The transaction is expected to close in the first half of 2024.

Through the agreement, Bristol Myers will acquire all of Karuna’s outstanding common stock for a premium of 53% above the closing price of the quote from the laboratory on December 21, 2023. That is, 330 dollars (299.7 euros).

According to the BMS statement, the operation has been approved by unanimity by the boards of directors of biopharmaceuticals and Karuna. The first has justified the operation due to the “potential” of laboratory treatments in the initial and preclinical phases.

For his part, Bill Meury, president and executive director of Karuna, has maintained that its product portfolio “offers advances not seen in many years“, therefore, together with “Bristol Myers Squibb’s extensive experience in the development and commercialization of medicines on a global scale and its legacy in neuroscience”, as the executive concluded.

Bristol Myers Squibb hires its general director for Spain and Portugal at Almirall

Midway through the year, Bristol Myers Squibb appointed Sandra Orta as new general director for Spain and Portugal. Orta’s arrival was carried out with the initiative of promoting BMS’s strategy in both countries as a biopharmaceutical company that develops innovative medicines.

Before joining the head of BMS in Spain and Portugal, Orta was head of marketing at Almirall, where he led global strategy and marketing, digital transformation and new product planning. Previously, between 2019 and 2022, the executive was general director of South Africa and head of the Roche Diagnostic Management Center.

The new director of BMS Spain and Portugal has more than twenty years of experience leading companies in the pharmaceutical sectordiagnostics, biotechnology and non-governmental organizations, both in Europe, the United States, as well as Latin America, the Middle East, Sub-Saharan Africa and Asia.