Genzyme rejects Sanofi’s $18.5bn bid; IPT looks at biotech’s turbulent 18-months

CEO Henri Termeer said: “Without exception, each member of the Genzyme board believes this is not the right time to sell the company, because your opportunistic takeover proposal does not begin to recognize the significant progress underway to rectify our manufacturing challenges or the potential for our new-product pipeline​.”

In particular, he suggested that Sanofi had not taken the “tremendous future upside” of Genzyme’s multiple sclerosis treatment alemtuzumab, or recent increases in supply of its key Gaucher’s disease drug Cerezyme, into account in its valuation.

This reply, coupled with Sanofi’s previously​ stated commitment to making the deal and its need to replace patent threatened products with newer hard to copy drugs, makes a hostile takeover battle seem increasingly likely.

Sanofi did not respond to in-pharmatechnologist's request for comment and has not yet issued a response to Genzyme's move.

Genzyme timeline​

in-pharmatechnologist has covered developments at Genzyme over the last 18 months and presents a roundup of all the key news in the timeline below.