[Industrial Securities Medical] Argenx Acquires Forte Biosciences for $2.2 Billion, Gaining Core Pipeline CD122 Monoclonal Antibody FB102

English summary

On July 27, argenx and Forte Biosciences announced a definitive acquisition agreement. argenx will acquire all outstanding shares of Forte for $77 per share in cash, representing equity value of approximately $2.2 billion, a premium of approximately 41% over Forte's July 24 close, and a premium of approximately 86% over volume-weighted average share price since July 9 when company announced positive vitiligo data. FB102 is a monoclonal antibody targeting CD122. CD122 is the beta subunit of the IL-2 receptor, participates in the composition of both IL-2 and IL-15 receptor complexes, expressed on NK cells and some T cells, and participates in high-affinity IL-2 receptor signaling on regulatory T cells. FB102 is designed to modulate IL-2 and IL-15 driven pathogenic T cell and NK cell proliferation and activation while preserving regulatory T cell function as much as possible; in the celiac disease study previously disclosed by Forte, NK cells decreased 95% after FB102 administration, and Treg levels at all time points were not significantly different from the placebo group. ...