Japanese Biopharma Giant Acquires Swiss based Idorsia Pharmaceuticals

Sosei Group, a Japanese biopharma company, announced its largest acquisition to date on July 20, the purchase of Swiss-based Idorsia Pharmaceuticals' operations in Japan and South Korea for approximately 65 billion yen ($466.1 million). Sosei will be transformed into a fully fledged pharmaceutical company in its home market, as opposed to its current focus on drug discovery for larger overseas companies, according to Chief Executive Chris Cargill.

"It cuts what would have been a five-to-ten-year organic build out," Cargill said of the deal, which will be paid for with cash and bank loans.

The acquisition includes Idorsia's non-Chinese Asian operations, which were spun off from Johnson & Johnson's 2017 acquisition of Actelion in Switzerland.

It grants Sosei rights to Pivlaz, a treatment for complications after brain haemorrhages that is already approved in Japan, as well as the insomnia medication Daridorexant, which is expected to be submitted to regulators later this year.

These two drugs are expected to generate 35 billion yen in peak sales in the coming years, according to Cargill. Sosei had previously expanded by acquiring UK-based biotechs Arakis in 2005 and Heptares Therapeutics in 2015.

The Idorsia deal closed on Thursday with payment due within a week, according to a Sosei statement. The two companies' Japan operations are to be merged within 12 months.