Bristol-Myers Reportedly Most Likely Buyer of Acceleron Pharma

Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. (

BMY, Financial) is the odds-on favorite to acquire Acceleron Pharma Inc. (XLRN, Financial) and the rights to its two promising drugs, reported Bloomberg.

Lending credence to a rumored takeover is a big jump in Acceleron’s share price, which has climbed more than 25% in the past week and shot up more than $11 to near $179 on Monday. That doesn’t leave much headroom for investors late to the game given Cambridge, Massachusetts-based Acceleron is reportedly in talks about a cash deal that values it at around $180 a share.

A Bristol-Myers buyout makes sense. After all, the pharma giant already owns 11.5% of Acceleron, which it acquired when it bought Celgene, which had an agreement in place with the biotech for two treatments. One of the drugs is now known as sotatercept, which is in phase 3 testing. Acceleron has touted the drug as potential major therapy to treat pulmonary arterial hypertension.

The other medication is called Reblozyl, a Food and Drug Administration-approved treatment for anemia in some patients with myelodysplastic syndromes, a group of disorders caused when something disrupts the production of blood cells. Some types have no known cause. Others occur in response to cancer treatments or chemical exposure. The disorder can eventually become leukemia.

Sales of Reblozyl have been growing nicely since its launch in 2019. Bristol-Myers reported it made $240 million in the first half of the year, with Acceleron picking up a $48 million share of the total, according to Pharmaphorum. The drug’s sales potential was thought to be $2 billion when it was launched, but new data suggests it could go as high as $4 billion.

If Bristol-Myers is the buyer, the company will become exclusive owners of Reblozyl in hematology, one of its primary areas of concentration; sotatercept would strengthen its cardiology pipeline, which was beefed up late last year with the acquisition of a promising heart drug candidate as part of the more than $13 billion buyout of MyoKardia.

Bristol-Myers shareholders are hoping the Acceleron and MyoKardia deals put a charge in the company, something it sorely needs. During the past three-plus years, Bristol-Myers stock has been treading water. Over the same period, the iShares U.S. Pharmaceuticals ETF (

IHE, Financial) has gained more than 9%.

While Bristol-Myers is the logical buyer, Bloomberg reported other names have been mentioned as possible suitors, including Sanofi SA (

SNY, Financial), Pfizer Inc. (PFE, Financial), Amgen Inc. (AMGN, Financial), Merck & Co. Inc. (MRK, Financial), Gilead Sciences Inc. (GILD, Financial), and Roche Holding AG (RHHBY, Financial).