Philip Morris International (PMI) has announced an offer of ~£1.05 billion for the acquisition of inhalation CDMO Vectura. In May 2021, Vectura announced that it would be acquired by the Carlyle Group for £958 million. The Vectura Board has withdrawn its support for the Carlyle deal and agreed to the PMI acquisition, citing PMI’s experience with aerosol delivery among other reasons for accepting the deal.
The PMI announcement cites Vectura’s portfolio of inhaled drugs and “highly complementary human capital, technology, high quality infrastructure, and deep know-how of inhalable formulation and device design development and analysis, drug/device combination, and pharmaceutical management processes and systems” as benefits that PMI will acquire from the deal.
According to the Vectura announcement, “PMI intends for Vectura to operate as an autonomous business unit, forming the backbone of PMI’s inhaled therapeutic business. PMI is supportive of Vectura’s current strategy to become one of the leading CDMOs in this segment and believes there are attractive opportunities to develop and launch proprietary inhaled therapeutic products together, and to expand the geographic reach of Vectura’s business.”
So far this year, Vectura has announced an expansion of its DPI manufacturing capacity, a development deal with Inspira related to an inhaled COVID-19 therapy, and an agreement to provide preclinical development services for Incannex Healthcare’s IHL-216A CBD/isoflurane.
PMI CEO Jacek Olczak said, “PMI’s Beyond Nicotine strategy, announced in February, articulates a clear ambition to leverage our expertise in inhalation and aerosolization into adjacent areas—including respiratory drug delivery and selfcare wellness—with a goal to reach at least USD 1 billion in net revenues by 2025. The acquisition of Vectura, following the recently announced agreement to acquire Fertin Pharma, will position us to accelerate this journey by expanding our capabilities in innovative inhaled and oral product formulations in order to deliver long-term growth and returns.”
Olczak continued, “The market for inhaled therapeutics is large and growing rapidly, with significant potential for expansion into new application areas. PMI has the commitment to science and the financial resources to empower Vectura’s skilled team to execute on an ambitious long-term vision. Together, PMI and Vectura can lead this global category, bringing benefits to patients, to consumers, to public health, and to society-at-large.”
PMI Chief Life Sciences Officer Jorge Insuasty commented, “We are thrilled by today’s announcement and the prospect that Vectura will be joining the PMI family as an autonomous business unit, forming the backbone of our ‘Beyond Nicotine’ inhaled therapeutic business. The proposed acquisition will significantly accelerate our development efforts. With the addition of Vectura’s expertise in the inhaled therapeutics space, PMI and Vectura will have the opportunity to undertake together the development and eventual commercialization of innovative inhalable drug/device combinations.”
Read the Philip Morris International press release.
Read the Vectura announcement.
