At the heart of the deal is the drug candidate dordaviprone, which is months away from a regulatory verdict for its use in H3 K27M-mutated diffuse glioma.
Jazz Pharmaceuticals is acquiring North Carolina’s Chimerix for $935 million, giving the Dublin-based biotech a promising therapy for a rare brain tumor.
Under the terms of the all-cash acquisition announced Wednesday, Jazz will procure Chimerix’s outstanding shares for $8.55 a pop, representing an approximately 72% premium to the latter’s closing price on Monday. Both companies have already signed off on the deal and expect to complete the transaction in the second quarter of 2025.
Shares of Chimerix surged around 70% before the opening bell on Wednesday.
At the heart of the acquisition agreement is Chimerix’s dordaviprone, an investigational small molecule drug designed to selective target CIpP, a mitochondrial protease, while also targetting the dopamine receptor D2. The drug candidate is being assessed for diffuse glioma, a rare and aggressive type of brain tumor that mainly afflicts children.
In its press announcement on Wednesday, Jazz CEO Bruce Cozadd said that dordaviprone, if it wins the FDA’s approval, “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.” The Chimerix acquisition will not only help to “further diversify” Jazz’s pipeline, Cozadd continued, but will also give the company an asset that “addresses a significant unmet need with no other FDA-approved therapies and limited treatment options.”
Chimerix has studied dordaviprone in patients carrying the K27M gene mutation in the gene encoding for the histone H3, a protein crucial in maintaining the proper structure of genetic material inside cells. According to Chimerix’s website, mutations in histone H3 in turn alter the expression pattern of many other genes and could be a driver of cancers. The K27M mutation is “almost exclusively found” in gliomas, the biotech noted.
In February 2025, the FDA accepted Chimerix’s New Drug Application for dordaviprone, seeking accelerated approval for diffuse glioma. The regulator granted the drug a priority review designation and is scheduled to release its verdict by August 18.
Once the buyout is complete, Jazz and Chimerix will combine their commercial capacities to prepare for a “strong commercial launch” of dordaviprone, according to the press announcement. The companies will also continue developing dordaviprone in other oncology indications. The drug candidate is currently being studied in the Phase III ACTION study for diffuse glioma, with the hopes of establishing both clinical benefit and a first-line setting.
Dordaviprone will have patent protections into 2037, with the potential of extensions, Jazz noted on Wednesday.
