Baxalta's CEO Hantson to Leave After Merger With Shire is Complete

January 12, 2016
By Alex Keown, BioSpace.com Breaking News Staff

BANNOCKBURN Ill. – One day after agreeing to a merger proposal by Dublin-based Shire , the first of the big management changes at Baxalta was announced. Ludwig Hantson, chief executive officer of Illinois-based Baxalta, will leave the company when the merger is finalized, the Chicago Tribune reported Tuesday afternoon.

The roles of other Baxalta executives have not yet been made public. Citing an employee FAQ posted with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, the Tribune said the roles of the other executives "will be determined through the integration process.” The merger is expected to be completed in mid-2016.

Hantson has helmed Baxalta for six months, since Baxalta spun out of the biosciences division of Baxter International . Before becoming CEO of Baxalta, Hantson served as president of Baxter’s bioscience divisions.

In July, Baxalta Incorporated, a pharmaceutical spinout of Baxter launched with hopes of fielding 20 new products by 2020. The company broke away from Baxter with a value of $6 billion and a robust portfolio that will help the company meet that 2020 goal. In March 2014, Baxter announced plans to spin out two separate, independent companies, Baxalta and another company focused on medical products and will remain under the Baxter logo.

Since its spinoff, Shire Pharmaceuticals has been going back and forth with Baxalta in an attempt to acquire the company. Nine days after Baxalta launched, Shire approached the company with a stock-only deal worth almost $31 billion. In early August, Shire went public with the offer in hopes of pressuring the Baxalta board and shareholders into considering the deal. After six months, the Baxalta board agreed to the deal, which is valued at about $32 billion.

The merger of Shire and Baxalta will create a pharmaceutical company with one of the largest rare disease platforms. The pipeline will include Baxalta’s hematology drug, Adynovate, Antihemophilic Factor (Recombinant), PEGylated, to treat hemophilia A, and Hyqvia, a next-generation subcutaneous immunoglobulin (IG) product to treat patients with primary immunodeficiency. Shire's top drug is Vyvanse, for the treatment of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHA) and for moderate-to-severe Binge Eating Disorder. Another rare disease drug in Shire’s arsenal is Cinryze for the treatment of hereditary angioedema, which is expected to generate $765 million. In October, Cinryze received Fast Track Designation from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration intravenous administration in subjects with Antibody Mediated Rejection in renal transplant recipients.

The combined company will also possess a growing franchise in Oncology, with approved products and innovative compounds in development, as well as a robust late-stage Ophthalmics pipeline. To bolster the oncology pipeline, in May, before the July launch of Baxalta, Baxter International plunked down $900 million to acquire Oncapar, a promising leukemia treatment from Italian company Sigma-Tau Finanziaria S.p.A. Baxalta entered into partnership with Merrimack Pharmaceuticals Inc. to support Merrimack’s New Drug Application for MM-398 for the treatment of patients with metastatic adenocarcinoma of the pancreas. The drug was granted priority review status by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and is also under review by the European Medicines Agency (EMA).

Shire’s stock hit a daily high of $181.71 per share, up about 6.8 percent for the day. Baxalta’s stock hit a high of $40.40 per share.