CU Boulder's heart disease drug developer MyoKardia has been picked up by BMS after finishing clinical trials on its lead asset.
Pharmaceutical firm Bristol Myers Squibb (BMS) agreed today to acquire MyoKardia, a US-based heart disease therapeutics spinout of University of Colorado, Boulder, in a $13.1bn all-cash transaction.
The deal is anticipated to close in the fourth quarter of 2020, with BMS paying $225 per MyoKardia share.
Founded in 2012, MyoKardia develops gene therapies for cardiovascular diseases, including a treatment for obstructive hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, mavacamten, that has completed clinical testing.
Obstructive hypertrophic cardiomyopathy is a life-threatening condition in which the heart muscle thickens and makes it harder to circulate blood.
BMS will integrate mavacamten into its portfolio, along with two MyoKardia assets undergoing clinical development.
MyoKardia had raised a total of $84m ahead of the acquisition across series A and B rounds in 2012 and May 2015, before completing a $62.5m IPO on the Nasdaq Global Select Market in November 2015.
Drug developer Sanofi was among its backers, as was Casdin Capital, Cormorant Asset Management, Perceptive Life Sciences, BridgeBio, Third Rock Ventures and an unnamed affiliate of Cowen Group.
MyoKardia’s founding research was spearheaded by Leslie Leinwand, a distinguished professor and chief scientific officer at CU Boulder’s BioFrontiers Institute.
