Eli Lilly Agrees to Acquire Safeguard Scientifics Partner Company Avid Radiopharmaceuticals
Posted by | November 8, 2010
For the second time in as many weeks, I am pleased to announce that a major player in the pharmaceutical industry has recognized the value and innovation of one of our partner companies. Today, Eli Lilly & Co. agreed to acquire Avid Radiopharmaceuticals, a leader in the development of molecular imaging products to enable early detection of pathology associated with neurodegenerative diseases.
This comes on the heels of the Oct. 22 announcement by GE Healthcare, a division of General Electric, that it would acquire our partner company Clarient (Nasdaq: CLRT). Safeguard is expected to receive net sale proceeds of approximately $145 million.
Safeguard has deployed $12 million of capital in Avid since May 2007, has a 13% primary ownership position, and is expected to receive minimum net sale proceeds of approximately $36 million, representing a 3x cash-on-cash return, after taking into account upfront payments and consideration to be paid into escrow.
This latest announcement is further evidence of Safeguard’s ability to understand the trends re-shaping life sciences and health care and identify companies that have the right vision and management skills to act on them. Under founder and CEO Daniel M. Skovronsky, MD, PhD, Avid has become the leader in the development of molecular imaging products to enable early detection of neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s.
Over the past three years we have been actively involved in Avid’s growth and maturation as it seeks approval for its game changing imaging agents, such as Florbetapir F 18. This announcement underlines Safeguard’s prudent and innovative approach to identifying market leaders in key strategic sectors such as diagnostics.
