Halozyme abandons Evotec proposal

Halozyme had hoped to pivot by acquiring the German drug discovery services company Evotec, but in the end the courtship was even more short lived than Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck’s marriage. The would-be suitor said on Friday that Evotec had been “unwilling to engage”, and that it was withdrawing its €11 per-share (€2bn total) offer. Halozyme’s stock, which fell when the proposal was announced, closed up 7% on Friday. A question now is whether Halozyme might look elsewhere to expand, as its big problem remains: patents around its Enhanze recombinant human hyaluronidase technology start to expire this year. The technology lies behind subcutaneous formulations of Roche's Tecentriq and Johnson & Johnson/Genmab's Darzalex, which are FDA approved, as well as Bristol Myers Squibb's Opdivo and J&J’s Rybrevant, which are awaiting regulatory decisions. It is notable, however, that Merck chose tech from South Korea’s Alteogen for its SC form of Keytruda, which succeeded in the Keynote-D77 trial last week. Daiichi also recently picked Alteogen for a SC version of Enhertu. Rumours swirled last week that Halozyme, which has also patented modified human hyaluronidases it calls Mdase, might file a patent lawsuit against Alteogen.