Sanofi to buy Provention Bio in $2.9bn deal

French pharmaceutical company Sanofi said on Monday that it has agreed to buy US biopharmaceutical group Provention Bio for $2.9bn in cash.

Provention focuses on intercepting and preventing immune-mediated diseases including type 1 diabetes (T1D).

Sanofi said the deal adds an "innovative, fully owned, first-in-class therapy" in type 1 diabetes to its core asset portfolio in general medicines and further drives its strategic shift toward products with a differentiated profile.

It noted that Provention’s TZIELD (teplizumab-mzwv) was approved in the US last year as the first and only therapy to delay the onset of Stage 3 type 1 diabetes in adults and paediatric patients aged 8 years and older with Stage 2 T1D.

Olivier Charmeil, executive vice president of General Medicines at Sanofi, said: "The acquisition of Provention Bio builds on Sanofi’s mission to deliver best- and first-in-class medicines and resonates with our purpose of chasing the miracles of science for the benefit of people.

"By coupling Provention Bio’s transformative innovation with Sanofi’s expertise, we aim to bring life-changing benefits to people at risk of developing Stage 3 type 1 diabetes. Any additional indications, approvals and pipeline assets only serve to further our excitement. Given our existing partnership and complementary work in the diabetes and immunology spaces, we foresee a seamless integration and execution."