BioMarin Pharmaceutical Inc. (BMRN) announced the pricing of its underwritten public offering of common stock worth approximately $792.6 million. The company is looking to issue 8.5 million shares of its common stock at a price of $93.25 per share. The offering is expected to close on or about Jan 27, 2015.
The company intends to use the net proceeds from this offering for general corporate purposes and to fund the impending Prosensa Holding (RNA) acquisition. At the end of the third quarter of 2014, BioMarin had a cash, cash equivalents and investment balance of $1.1 billion.
We remind investors late last year, BioMarin had announced its intention to acquire Prosensa in a cash transaction valued at about $680 million. The Prosensa acquisition will add Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) candidate, drisapersen, to BioMarin’s portfolio and further expand its rare disease portfolio. The acquisition is slated to go through in the first quarter of 2015.
Meanwhile, at the annual J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference, which was held earlier in the month, BioMarin increased its guidance for potential blockbuster drug, Vimizim, on the back of continued impressive performance. The company now expects Vimizim sales in the range of $75 million to $77 million (old guidance: $65 million to $70 million) in 2014 with fourth quarter sales expected in the range of $34.6 million to $36.6 million.
Vimizim is approved both in the U.S. and EU for the treatment of mucopolysaccharidosis type IVA (MPS IV A) or Morquio syndrome type A.
The company also presented encouraging interim data from an ongoing phase I/II pivotal study on its pipeline Batten disease candidate, BMN 190. Apart from BMN 190, the company has several early- and mid-stage candidates in its orphan disease focused pipeline.
BioMarin expects 2015 to be a pivotal year in terms of multiple data readouts across the pipeline.
BioMarin currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). Some better-ranked stocks in the health care sector include Alexion Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (ALXN) and Amgen Inc. (AMGN). Both carry a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy).
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