Shareholders of Elan Corporation have rejected the company’s $1 billion deal for royalties from Theravance inhaled drugs, including the Breo and Anoro Ellipta DPIs. Anticipating the result from the Theravance vote, Elan announced on June 14 that it would put itself up for sale.
Theravance CEO Rick Winningham responded to the vote saying, “While we are disappointed that Elan’s shareholders did not approve this transaction, we are confident in our overall strategy, our respiratory programs partnered with GSK and our strategy to deliver value to shareholders. Looking forward, we remain focused on Theravance’s key priorities in 2013, which are to optimize the US launch of Breo Ellipta in the third quarter, focus on seeking regulatory approvals for Anoro Ellipta and Relvar Ellipta and to work toward separating its businesses into Royalty Management Co and Theravance Biopharma. We believe this strategy will unlock value, facilitate return of capital to stockholders and further our strategy of advancing medicines that address significant unmet medical needs.”
According to Theravance, the company “is currently evaluating the optimal strategies to return capital to stockholders of Royalty Management Co following completion of the separation, including through dividends or the repurchase of shares and/or convertible debt.”
Read the Elan press release.
Read the Theravance press release.
