Bayer has agreed to acquire biotechnology startup Perfuse Therapeutics in a deal that could be worth up to $2.45 billion, marking the healthcare conglomerate’s first — and potentially largest — drug company acquisition in years.
The German company said Wednesday it will shell out $300 million upfront for the San Francisco-based biotech, with the bulk of the additional deal payouts only coming if certain unspecified development, regulatory and commercial benchmarks are met. The acquisition will close once approved by Perfuse’s stockholders and cleared by antitrust regulators.
The deal will hand Bayer a treatment called PER-001 that’s currently in mid-stage testing for the treatment of glaucoma and diabetic retinopathy. Delivevered via an intravitreal implant, the therapy blocks signaling of a protein that constricts blood vessels and contributes to the ocular damage that occurs in certain eye diseases.
Bayer believes this approach could represent a new and different way to alter the course of glaucoma and diabetic retinopathy, which are typically treated, respectively, with eye drops or injections. In glaucoma, the drug’s being studied as a way to improve vision, while in diabetic retinopathy it might help relieve the restriction of blood flow in the retina, Bayer said in a statement. Perfuse claimed success in a pair of Phase 2 studies last year.
