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Updated: 51 min 16 sec ago

Silence says it's been approached by mystery suitor

London-based Silence Therapeutics says an unnamed suitor has made an overture that could lead to a buyout offer--the second time in the last year that Silence has discussed a potential deal with a mystery party. The RNAi company's shares jumped 76 percent on the news, rising to 12.6 pence after trading at a lean-and-mean 5 pence just a few weeks ago.

Last fall, Silence announced a merger with Intradigm, a Palo Alto, CA-based RNAi company it acquired in an all-stock deal valued at $25 million. Silence Therapeutics has an ambitious development deal in place with AstraZeneca. It also inked a deal with Japan's Dainippon Sumitomo last January.

"A further announcement will be made in due course," the developer notes in a terse release.

- read the Silence release
- check out Reuters' perspective
- here's the Bloomberg report

Actavis eyes fast-growing biosimilar market

With a deal on the table to buy up a 51 percent stake in Poland's Bioton, Actavis says it wants to use the move as a springboard into biosimilars. Like a slate of biopharma companies, the Icelandic generic drugmaker sees a big future for companies with the financial wherewithal to develop a new generation of biologics that act in a similar fashion to some of the world's biggest biotech blockbusters. Analysts expect the biosimilar market to hit $10 billion by 2015, but it won't be cheap or easy gaining regulatory approvals. Story

Biovail-Valeant combo will cost 25% of all jobs

When the execs at Biovail and Valeant sat down with analysts last June to hype their approaching reverse merger, one of the highlights of their discussion focused on the $175 million in cost savings--involving the termination of up to 870 staffers--that would follow the combination of the two developers. It turns out that they were thinking small. This morning the cost synergies had spiked to more than $300 million, and the merger will cost the jobs of fully 25 percent of their combined staffs instead of the 20 percent discussed earlier in the summer.

In what amounts to a Dear John letter for many of their workers, Valeant Chief Executive J. Michael Pearson penned his plans to realize "well north of $200 million" in savings next year with the rest to follow in 2012, according to a report from Reuters. And while R&D efforts will continue to get their backing, Pearson outlined plans to acquire in-line products that can swiftly deliver expanded revenue.

Virtually every big tie-up in biopharma these days involves job cuts. Wall Street demands it and executives at a slate of Big Pharma have delivered with big rounds of cost-cutting moves in the wake of mergers. Valeant has been investing heavily in dermatology drug development, while Biovail has made its reputation in the CNS field.

- here's the Reuters story

ReMYND scores $637M Alzheimer's deal with Roche

Determined to push ahead on two of the toughest CNS targets in drug development, Roche announced this morning that it is teaming up on two preclinical candidates at reMYND, a Belgian biotech that could earn more than $637 million in milestones if the partners can make their way to the marketplace. ReMYND's compounds are disease modifying therapies that inhibit α-synuclein neurotoxicity in Parkinson's disease and tau neurotoxicity in Alzheimer's disease.

"Our Alzheimer's tau program represents perhaps a greater potential as it addresses one of the most fundamental aspects of the disease," says Koen De Witte, managing director of reMYND. "We are very excited, both for our company and for Parkinson's and Alzheimer's patients, to have selected Roche as a partner to advance these programs." ReMYND gets an undefined set of milestones amounting to more than a half billion euros along with royalties that could reach into the double digits.

"Our most advanced compound in Parkinson's disease has demonstrated full inhibition of disease progression in pre-clinical models and could be the first treatment in clinical development for Parkinson's disease targeting α-synuclein-induced toxicity," says Gerard Griffioen, CSO of reMYND. ReMYND has a total of six programs in various stages of preclinical development for Parkinson's and Alzheimer's, with another two devoted to diabetes.

Some of the biggest drug developers in the world have attempted, and failed, at finding a therapy that can modify Alzheimer's, a memory-wasting disease that is growing exponentially as the world's population ages. Eli Lilly was recently forced to shutter its late-stage Alzheimer's program after researchers determined that it could have made conditions worse for the patients taking it.

- here's the reMYND release

Idenix shares crash after tox scare forces hold on hep C drugs

Idenix--one of the biotech industry's star stock performers this year--saw its share price crash and burn this morning after it announced that the FDA had put its two lead hepatitis C programs on clinical hold. The hold was issued after researchers tracked signs of liver toxicity in three patients taking the therapies--a classic red flag on drug safety. Its shares (IDIX) slid 55 percent in premarket trading.

"We have not yet received a formal letter from the FDA, nor has the Agency had an opportunity to review the safety and efficacy data from recently completed clinical trials with IDX184 and IDX320. Based upon our discussions with the Agency, we are primarily focused on three cases of elevated liver function tests observed during our drug-drug interaction study of the combination of IDX184 and IDX320 in healthy volunteers," says Jean-Pierre Sommadossi, Idenix chairman and CEO. "Based upon the safety and antiviral activity we observed in the IDX184 14-day study and the IDX320 3-day proof-of-concept study, both in HCV-infected patients, we remain committed to the future potential of these drug candidates."

As TheStreet's Adam Feuerstein notes in a story out this morning, Idenix's shares have been one of the top 5 performers in the industry, up 176 percent through the end of last week. That changed for the worse in a matter of minutes, however, with its share price melting from $5.99 to under the $3 mark. Idenix, a 2004 Fierce 15 company, has had plenty of ups and downs as it pursues new therapies for hepatitis C--one of the toughest targets in the industry. Novartis passed on its option to partner on IDX184 last October.

- check out the Idenix release
- here's the story from TheStreet

Sanofi hints at higher Genzyme bid as GSK remains on the sidelines

The ongoing negotiation-by-leak between Sanofi-Aventis and Genzyme picked up speed over the long weekend. A source on the bidding team indicated to Dow Jones that Sanofi is willing to modestly hike its $69 offer--if it gets Genzyme to the bargaining table. GlaxoSmithKline R&D chief Moncef Slaoui, meanwhile, told a French newspaper that the big U.K. pharma company won't be suiting up to play the role of White Knight.

While every little move in the Sanofi-Genzyme drama is given big play in the business press, there's been little if anything that's actually new taking place. Sanofi's board has already indicated that they would step up its $18.5 billion bid if Genzyme is ready to dicker. Genzyme's board--and particularly CEO Henri Termeer (photo)--has dug in deep around its position that $69 per share is simply too small an offer to seriously consider. So the two sides remain far apart.

Without another serious bidder to fire up the discussions, these leaks could go on for some time. And you can rule out GSK, according to one of its top execs, who doesn't see much value in paying an even bigger premium for the big biotech.

"An offer by GlaxoSmithKline for Genzyme does not make sense. It is too expensive," Moncef Slaoui told Les Echos.

- get the story from MarketWatch
- here's the Reuters report