Cephalon opens bid for Aussie bio-technology firm Arana

28 February 2009

Pennsylvania-based Cephalon Inc on Friday said that its wholly-owned subsidiary, Cephalon International Holdings Inc, plans to make a takeover offer for Arana Therapeutics Limited of Australia, a biopharmaceutical company focused on developing next generation antibody based drugs.

Attracted by Arana's pipeline of biologic compounds for inflammatory diseases and cancer, Cephalon intends to offer A$1.40 cash for each Arana ordinary share.

The total offer value is approximately A$318 million ($207 million). The offer price represents a 69 per cent premium to Arana's closing price on 25 February, 2009.

Arana independent directors recommend shareholders to accept the offer in the absence of a superior proposal.

''Arana would bolster our burgeoning inflammatory disease pipeline as well as our oncology pipeline,'' said Frank Baldino Jr, chairman and CEO of Cephalon.

''Arana has an established protein engineering technology platform that transforms proteins, including antibodies, into potent drug candidates. Its lead candidate, ART621, is a domain antibody currently in phase II trials for both psoriasis and rheumatoid arthritis. TNFs are well established targets with a high probability of success," he added.