Dive Brief:
- Ludwig Hanston, CEO of Baxalta, and his team are focused on an R&D model based on developing research discovered in biotech and academic settings.
- Baxalta is a spin-off from Baxter. Earlier this month, Shire made a $30 billion offer for the new company, which is focused on rare diseases, with particular interest in hemophilia, immunology and oncology.
- In response to the offer, Hanston has told shareholders that a $30 billion takeover offer from Shire "significantly undervalues" his company.
Dive Insight:
Baxalta, which is based in Kendall Square in Cambridge, MA, has an R&D model that makes sense. The premise it to bring in discoveries from academia and biotech companies and then develop those therapies, moving them through the pipeline and the regulatory approval process. In fact, the company is so serious about this approach that there is no laboratory planned for their new 200,000 square foot facility, according to a report from Don Seiffert for Boston Business Journal.
Baxalta, which continues to have lab researchers in Vienna and Munich, is proud of its burgeoning pipeline and rightly so. Currently, they have six new drugs pending approval in the U.S. and Europe, including a promising hemophilia drug called Adynovate, which is expected to be approved by the FDA by the end of this year. Baxalta also has a potential drug in the works for pancreatic cancer—a drug which it co-developed with Merrimack.