UPDATE: Protherics Shares Soar Over 30% On Bid Approaches
Thursday August 14th, 2008 / 9h48
(Adds details, analysts and spokespeople comments.) By Elena Berton Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES LONDON -(Dow Jones)- Shares in Protherics PLC (PTIL) soared over 30% in early trade Thursday after the U.K. biotech company disclosed it has received several approaches. Protherics, which specializes in critical care and cancer products, late Wednesday said it's considering approaches from "a number of parties," but cautioned that there can be no certainty that it will receive any formal offers. A spokeswoman for Protherics Thursday declined to further comment on the statement. At 08030 GMT, its shares were up 29.4%, or 11 pence, at 50p in a higher London market. At Wednesday's close, Protherics had a market capitalization of about GBP161 million. Seymour Pierce analyst Zhining Xu, who has a buy recommendation on the stock, said Protherics' current valuation is low, pointing out that a possible buy-out could unlock more value for the company. The company, based in Runcorn, England is developing CytoFab, a treatment for serious infections, with Anglo-Swedish drugmaker AstraZeneca PLC (AZN). An AstraZeneca spokesman declined to comment on Protherics' statement. Protherics is the latest U.K. biopharmaceutical company to attract takeover interest. Vaccine specialist Acambis PLC (ACM.LN) is being taken over by its partner Sanofi-Aventis S.A. (SNY) in a deal worth GBP276 million, while in 2006 Cambridge Antibody Technologies, then the U.K.'s largest biotech company by sales, was acquired for GBP702 million by AstraZeneca, to which it was linked through a drug discovery alliance. KBC Peel Hunt analyst Paul Cuddon, however, said it's unlikely Protherics has attracted interest from large drugmakers such as AstraZeneca, given that mid-stage trials of CytoFab won't report results until 2010 and that new competitors are emerging for its anti-venom treatment CroFab. "We see limited reason why a blue-chip pharma would make a cash offer in the current climate while the execution risk remains high," Cuddon said. "As such we expect the approaches are share based and from relatively minor players in the pharmaceutical space," he added, advising investors to sell into the share price strength that these approaches have created. Company Web site: www.protherics.com -By Elena Berton, Dow Jones Newswires; 44 20 7842 9267; elena.berton@dowjones.com Click here to go to Dow Jones NewsPlus, a web front page of today's most important business and market news, analysis and commentary: http://www.djnewsplus.com/al?rnd=%2FbT9qSUJUcGj1l0znpI5Rg%3D%3D. You can use this link on the day this article is published and the following day.
Sanofi-Aventis est le 1er groupe pharmaceutique europ éen. Le CA par famille de produits se répartit comme suit :
- produits pharmaceutiques (89,6%)...
