It seems to me that the potential acquirer would be looking for synergy between its drugs and one of Kosan's, or would have a direct connection already. Roche falls in the latter category because of the epothilone partnership. It would be similar to Amgen's munch of Abgenix, but the first generation epothilone doesn't look as promising as ABX-EGF, so I think Roche would wait for data on the next generation epothilone before considering a munch. As for the former category, aside from Velcade, 17-aag also synergizes with taxol, Keryx' UCN-01, and some Lilly drug I forget (and there may be others). I don't see the fit with MGI (which I don't see munching anyone soon, anyway), CEPH, or CELG, as there are no synergies with any of their drugs that I am aware of. CELG's clinical development program for combos with Thalidomide seems to mostly involve already approved drugs sold by big pharmas. The exception being . . . MLNM's Velcade.
Companies could just decide they like the program in general, whether or not they have a synergistic drug or a Hsp-90 program of their own. In that case, could be just about anyone with some dough/richly priced shares.
Cheers, Tuck |
