Achillion Pharmaceuticals
And this is news because?
Achillion has three drugs in the clinic, which all treat hepatitis C, a disease that's quickly moving toward cocktail therapies as a standard of care. Pharmasset
I'd expect Achillion to be talking with potential partners, and I'd expect that many of those companies would entertain the idea of purchasing the company at the right price.
What I don't expect is for a company's CEO to go blabbing to the media about it. There's just no reason for it.
And there's no reason for investors to jump onboard expecting that a sale is imminent. BioSante Pharmaceuticals'
Achillion expects to report interim phase 2 data by the end of the year for its lead compound ACH-1625. Most -- dare I say all -- potential buyers would want to see that data before making a purchase. And unless the purchase price was out of this world, Achillion's board would be crazy to agree to a sale with the data on the horizon. Assuming it's positive, the data will only make the company more valuable as a potential takeout target.
If you're going to purchase shares of Achillion, I'd consider looking for a pullback before jumping in. You might not get one -- sometimes rumors are true, and the phase 2 data will be available soon -- but I don't see how Achillion is more valuable after the Bloomberg report than it was yesterday.