Wednesday, November 3, 2010

Correcting January 2010 Entry: Merck Actually Has A Boulder, Colorado BioVentures Facility. . .


Back on January 31, 2010, at a JP Morgan Healthcare Investor Conference, CEO Dick Clark mentioned Insmed as a biopharm "acquisition", and SeekingAlpha wondered aloud whether that was a premature disclosure -- thinking that it was a deal for the entire company, not just the follow-on biologics platform.

It turns out that it was just a mention of the follow-on biologics deal, and over nine-months stale, at that time -- in January 2010. I didn't bother, back in January, to go read Insmed's SEC filings. I should have, as in Note 1 to the Insmed financial statements in the most recent SEC Form 10-Q, the March 2009 follow-on biologics deal with Merck was disclosed, thus:

. . . .On March 31, 2009, [Insmed] completed the sale of [its] follow-on biologics platform to Merck & Co., Inc. (“Merck”) for an aggregate purchase price of $130 million. As part of this transaction, Merck assumed the lease of [its] Boulder, Colorado-based manufacturing facility (which was also used to manufacture IPLEX™) and acquired ownership of all the equipment in the building. In addition, Merck offered positions to employees at the Boulder facility. . . .

So, my January surmise was actually right -- the CEO was simply using an in-industry shorthand -- but for the wrong reasons (as I didn't go verify that it was an old deal).

There you have it. [File under: Slow news day.]

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Condor - you should look for more information on this site which might be relevant in the next few months.

condor said...

Thanks -- I'll keep my eyes peeled here -- and may even stop in to the Boulder facility between now and then.

Namaste