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 & Co 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.