Japanese firm buys Israeli pharmaceuticals company for $1.1 billion

Japan’s Mitsubishi Tanabe acquired Israel’s NeuroDerm, the largest-ever purchase of an Israeli pharmaceuticals company and the biggest buyout by a Japanese company.

Japanese company Mitsubishi Tanabe Pharma Corporation announced a deal Monday to acquire Israeli pharmaceutical company NeuroDerm Monday for $1.1 billion in cash

A clinical-stage pharmaceutical company located in Rehovot, Israel, NeuroDerm, founded in 2003, was purchased for $39 in cash per share, a premium of 17 percent over the closing stock price last Friday.

The NASDAQ-traded Israeli company develops next-generation treatments for central nervous system disorders and has three clinical stage product candidates in development that offer a form of treatment for almost every Parkinson’s disease patient, from moderate to the very severe stage of the disease.

The deal, expected to close in the fourth quarter of 2017, is the largest ever for an Israeli pharmaceuticals company and the biggest buyout by a Japanese company, surpassing the $900 million acquisition of Israeli chat app Viber by Rakuten in 2014.

“We believe that this transaction will yield important benefits for NeuroDerm’s shareholders and the Parkinson’s disease patients that urgently need new therapies, said NeuroDerm CEO Oded Lieberman.  “Mitsubishi Tanabe Pharma Corporation has demonstrated development and commercialization expertise in the field of neurology and we are confident that the combination of their resources and the robust data supporting ND0612, our Phase III Parkinson’s disease product candidate, will help make this important new therapy available as broadly and rapidly as possible.”

Mitsubishi Tanabe was founded in 1678, having the longest history of any listed company in Japan. Trading on the Tokyo Stock Exchange, Mitsubishi Tanabe specializes in regenerative medicine.

By: Zachary Kerman/TPS