MedImmune for sale
Executive Summary
The biotechnology firm announces April 12 that it is exploring a possible sale. MedImmune has a market capitalization of over $10 billion and markets the influenza vaccine FluMist, the respiratory syncytial virus treatment Synagis (palivizumab) and the cytoprotective agent Ethyol (amifostine). A BLA for the Synagis follow-on Numax is planned for this year. The firm already has relationships with Merck and GlaxoSmithKline, which use the firm's "virus-like particle technology" in the production of HPV vaccines Gardasil and Cervarix. Pfizer has also expressed an interest in significantly boosting its biologics portfolio via acquisition...