Vertex (VRTX) update #28
Posted by intelledgement on Sun, 12 Jul 09
Yay!
Vertex Pharmaceuticals (VRTX) have come up with a cash-raising mechanism that does not require the dilution of all existing shares: they are selling their rights to receive $250 million in milestone payments from Janssen Pharmaceutica N.V., a Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) company, for the successful development and launch of their hepatitis C drug, telaprevir, in the European Union. Shareholders reeling from a succession of dilutive secondaries and other transactions—seven million shares sold in Feb 08, nine million shares sold in Sep 08, ten million shares sold in Feb 09, ten million shares issued to the owners of ViroChem Pharma in Mar 09 to acquire that company, seven million shares exhanged with bondholders to retire convertible notes due 2013 in Jun 09—were presumably happy to see the company raise funds without issuing any new shares for once.
According to the press release, “Morgan Stanley is acting as a structural advisor to Vertex in connection with this transaction.”
Previous VRTX-related posts:
- BUY Vertex Pharmaceuticals (VRTX)—Hepatitis C Play (17 Apr 07)
- Vertex (VRTX) update—PROVE 1 trial news and 2Q07 results (25 Jul 07)
- Vertex (VRTX) update #2—down 13% on good boceprevir (SGP) results (18 Oct 07)
- Vertex (VRTX) update #3—3Q07 results (30 Oct 07)
- Vertex (VRTX) update #4—concerns about telaprevir Phase 3 trial delay and competition (5 Nov 07)
- Vertex (VRTX) update #5—still no word on start of telaprevir Phase 3 trial (9 Jan 08)
- Vertex (VRTX) update #6—down 10% on apparent FDA preference for 48-week Phase 3 (23 Jan 08)
- Vertex (VRTX) update #7—4Q07 results (11 Feb 08)
- Vertex (VRTX) update #8—Seven million shares sold to raise cash (19 Feb 08)
- Vertex (VRTX) update #9—up 8% on good Phase 2 results for cystic fibrosis drug (27 Mar 08)
- Vertex (VRTX) update #10—up 28% on excellent Phase 2 results for telaprevir (31 Mar 08)
- Vertex (VRTX) update #11—more good telaprevir Phase 2 data and 1Q08 results (27 Apr 08)
- Vertex (VRTX) update #12—up 13% on Cowens upgrade; still more good telaprevir Phase 2 data (9 Jun 08)
- Vertex (VRTX) update #13—down 5% on unattractive FDA Phase 3 parameter preferences (24 Jun 08)
- Vertex (VRTX) update #14—2Q08 results (1 Aug 08)
- Vertex (VRTX) update #15—telaprevir Phase 3 trial for SOC-resistant patients launched (19 Aug 08)
- Vertex (VRTX) update #16—nine million shares sold to raise cash (22 Sep 08)
- Vertex (VRTX) update #17—up 16% on Phase 2 results showing 2x daily telaprevir works (24 Sep 08)
- Vertex (VRTX) update #18—final Phase 2a trial results on VX-770 (CF)…on to Phase 3! (20 Oct 08)
- Vertex (VRTX) update #19—3Q08 results (27 Oct 08)
- Vertex (VRTX) update #20—up 5% on fresh telaprevir Phase 2 results (3 Nov 08)
- Vertex (VRTX) update #21—down 11% on concerns about Obama’s drug reimbursement policies (21 Nov 08)
- Vertex (VRTX) update #22—Vertex founder Joshua Boger to retire (5 Feb 09)
- Vertex (VRTX) update #23—4Q08 results (9 Feb 09)
- Vertex (VRTX) update #24—ten million shares sold to raise cash (18 Feb 09)
- Vertex (VRTX) update #25—Vertex to acquire ViroChem Pharma for ten million shares (3 Mar 09)
- Vertex (VRTX) update #26—1Q09 results (16 Apr 09)
- Vertex (VRTX) update #27—seven million shares exchanged for notes (8 Jun 09)
intelledgement said
Here is an interesting article on the significance of this transaction from the credit securitization point of view. Evidently the securitization of intellectual property rights Morgan Stanley are performing here is cutting edge stuff, particularly these days, with securitization activity much reduced since the 2008 meltdown (Morgan Stanley have handled 17 such drug IP securitzation transactions previously, but this is the first post-Lehman).