Sanofi Offers to Buy Translate Bio in mRNA Push, Reuters Reports

(Bloomberg) -- Sanofi offered to acquire its messenger-RNA development partner Translate Bio Inc., Reuters reported, citing two people familiar with the situation.

The French drugmaker made an offer for all of Translate Bio’s shares, with the latter company’s board expected to meet late Monday to discuss the situation, according to the report.

Translate Bio shares surged more than 70% in late U.S. trading. Sanofi declined to comment. Translate Bio didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment outside of normal business hours.

Ordinarily a giant in the vaccines space, Sanofi is playing catch-up with Covid after upstarts BioNTech SE and Moderna Inc. raced ahead with highly effective mRNA shots that have now been injected into arms more than a billion times. Those two companies have been lavishly rewarded for their pioneering work, with Moderna’s market valuation rocketing up toward $140 billion as of Monday and BioNTech’s valuation now exceeding $80 billion.

Pfizer Inc., which is partnered with Germany’s BioNTech, said last week that their Covid shot could bring in $33.5 billion in revenue this year alone.

Sanofi hasn’t brought a Covid vaccine to market yet. Its leading candidate is based on the recombinant-protein technology already in use in the company’s seasonal flu shots. That product, which was subject to months of delays, is now in a late-stage trial and could be cleared by regulators by the end of this year.

But Sanofi has also been developing an mRNA Covid shot with Translate Bio since March 2020. That effort grew out of a partnership between the companies, forged in 2018, to develop mRNA vaccines for as many as five infectious-disease pathogens. Their Covid candidate is currently in an early-stage trial and could be approved, if all goes well, in 2022.

Translate Bio, based in Lexington, Massachusetts, is also working on vaccines for influenza with Sanofi. Its pipeline of other products includes experimental therapies for cystic fibrosis and other lung ailments, along with a treatment for a liver disease.

In June, Sanofi announced plans to invest about $480 million a year in mRNA technology with a newly created “center of excellence” focused on everything from basic research to manufacturing. That initiative is aimed at speeding up the pipeline of mRNA products being developed by Sanofi and Translate Bio, along with making mRNA shots that are more stable at average temperatures and less likely to cause side effects.

Sanofi expects at least six mRNA vaccine candidates in clinical trials by 2025.

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