Bumetanide

Esperion’s commercial portfolio became a bigger draw for ArchiMed after the Michigan-headquartered company announced in early March that it would acquire Corstasis and its edema drug Enbumyst. Shortly after laying out $75 million upfront for Corstasis Therapeutics and its congestive heart failure edema drug Enbumyst, Esperion Therapeutics is itself being acquired and taken private by healthcare investment firm Archimed. On Friday, the companies announced that Archimed will pay $3.16 per share for Esperion at closing on May 1, alongside a potential CVR sweetener of contingent milestone payments tied to the future sales performance of Esperion’s Nexletol, Nexlizet and Enbumyst that could reach up to $100 million. All told, the deal could be worth up to $1.1 billion, assuming those commercial milestones are met, the companies said in a release. The upfront consideration from Archimed marks a 58% premium on Esperion’s closing share price on April 30. “This transaction marks an exciting new chapter for Esperion, our employees, and the patients and healthcare professionals we serve,” Sheldon Koenig, Esperion’s CEO, said in a statement. He added that the acquisition “provides our shareholders with attractive and immediate upfront value at a compelling premium, while preserving the opportunity to participate in additional upside through contingent milestone payments tied to the future growth of our core cardiometabolic products.” Archimed and Esperion broke down the sales thresholds the latter’s drugs must meet in order to unlock the deal’s full value. Contingent payments of $40 million are tied to 2027 sales of the cholesterol-lowering drugs Nexletol and Nexlizet, surpassing $350 million, per the companies’ release. If those sales breach $300 million but don’t meet the $350 million mark, Archimed is pledging a lesser payout “determined by linear interpretation” of the meds’ performance. Meanwhile, Enbumyst, the nasal spray for edema associated with congestive heart failure that Esperion picked up through its Corstasis buyout, could net Esperion shareholders another $60 million from the CVR framework if its revenues exceed $160 million in any single calendar year through 2030. Archimed’s purchase is expected to close in the third quarter. Once the deal has gone through, Esperion will become privately held and delist its stock from the Nasdaq. Esperion is no stranger to being an acquisition target, having been acquired by Pfizer after its role in developing the cholesterol drug Lipitor in 2004. Four years later, however, amid a restructuring, Pfizer turned the company and its assets back over to its original founder. Esperion then went public in 2013.  Esperion’s commercial portfolio no doubt became a bigger draw for Archimed after the Michigan-headquartered company announced in early March that it would acquire Corstasis and its Enbumyst. Approved in September, the nasal spray is a loop diuretic that relieves the edema associated with congestive heart failure, chronic kidney disease and liver disease. At the time, Esperion noted that it believes Enbumyst represents a potential $4.6 billion opportunity in the U.S. alone.