Bayer agreed on Wednesday to acquire San Francisco-based Perfuse Therapeutics for up to $2.45 billion, adding an experimental eye disease treatment to its ophthalmology pipeline.
The deal calls for a $300 million upfront payment, with the remainder contingent on development, regulatory, and commercial milestones, Bayer said. Closing is subject to antitrust clearance and Perfuse stockholder approval.
At the center of the acquisition is PER-001, a small molecule endothelin receptor antagonist currently in phase II clinical trials for glaucoma and diabetic retinopathy. Bayer said the drug has the potential to become one of the first disease-modifying treatments for both conditions.
The purchase marks Bayer's largest acquisition since its takeover of AskBio for up to $4 billion in 2020, according to The Wall Street Journal. After AskBio, Bayer went on to buy Vividion Therapeutics for up to $2 billion and KaNDy Therapeutics for up to $875 million, though its more recent dealmaking had focused on early-stage candidates not yet tested in humans, according to MarketWatch.
Bayer described the deal as a natural fit with its existing ophthalmology business. Eylea, the company's top-grossing pharmaceutical product last year, has come under revenue pressure since its patent expired. Heart drug Xarelto has similarly gone off patent.
The $63 billion Monsanto deal Bayer closed in 2018 left the company carrying heavy debt and embroiled in litigation, consuming management attention and constraining its balance sheet for years. According to The Wall Street Journal, that financial strain kept Bayer on the sidelines as rivals pursued acquisitions, even while Xarelto and Eylea were losing exclusivity.
Stefan Oelrich, who leads Bayer's pharmaceutical division, told The Wall Street Journal last month that the company had a number of deal negotiations underway.