Jazz Pharmaceuticals to acquire Chimerix for $935M

Jazz Pharmaceuticals and Chimerix, a Durham-based biotech company, have entered into a definitive agreement for Jazz to acquire Chimerix for $8.55 per share in cash, representing a total consideration of approximately $935 million. The transaction has been approved by both companies and is expected to close in the second quarter of 2025, the companies said.

At the acquisition’s center is Chimerix’s lead clinical asset, dordaviprone, a novel first-in-class small molecule treatment in development for a rare, high-grade brain tumor that most commonly affects children and young adults. There are no therapies approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration specifically for patients with this brain tumor, called H3 K27M-mutant diffuse glioma; radiation is the most common treatment approach. 

A New Drug Application (NDA) for accelerated approval of dordaviprone for this tumor was recently accepted and granted Priority Review by the FDA. FDA has set a target Prescription Drug User Fee Act (PDUFA) action date of August 18, 2025. If approved in the U.S., dordaviprone may be eligible for a Rare Pediatric Disease Priority Review Voucher (PRV). 

Separately, dordaviprone is being studied in the ongoing Phase 3 ACTION trial, which evaluates its use in newly diagnosed, non-recurrent H3 K27M-mutant diffuse glioma patients following radiation treatment, potentially extending this treatment option into the front-line setting.

“Adding dordaviprone to our oncology R&D pipeline will further diversify our portfolio with a medicine that addresses a significant unmet need with no other FDA-approved therapies and limited treatment options for this patient population. If approved, dordaviprone has the potential to rapidly become a standard of care for a rare oncology disease and also contribute durable revenue beginning in the near-term,” said Bruce Cozadd, chairman and CEO of Jazz Pharmaceuticals, in a press release on the acquisition. 

“We are encouraged by the dordaviprone clinical trial results to date and look forward to closing the proposed acquisition and working with our new colleagues from Chimerix to fully leverage our combined R&D and commercial expertise to deliver this novel therapy to patients, beginning as early as the second half of this year.”

“We are excited to reach this agreement with Jazz Pharmaceuticals as they bring global scale to broaden our dordaviprone commercial strategy,” said Mike Andriole, president and CEO of Chimerix, in the same press release. “The transaction, if approved, provides the opportunity to advance access to dordaviprone to reach more patients globally. This announcement is the culmination of years of scientific work by our incredibly talented team and will deliver significant and certain value to our shareholders.”