Synageva

Synageva BioPharma Corp. was a publicly listed biopharmaceutical company (NASDAQ: GEVA) headquartered in Lexington, Massachusetts dedicated to discovering, developing and delivering medicines for patients with rare diseases and high unmet medical needs. The company had manufacturing and laboratory locations in Lexington and Holden, Massachusetts, Bogart and Athens Georgia, as well as offices in a variety of locations around the world.

Synageva was formed when Sanj K. Patel (formerly an executive at Genzyme Corporation, Cambridge, Massachusetts) was approached in early 2008 by Baker Bros. Investments to be the CEO of privately held Avigenics, Inc. in Athens, Georgia, a company initially formed by Dr. Robert Ivarie of the University of Georgia. Upon joining AviGenics in June 2008, Mr. Patel created the vision and strategy for Synageva and changed the company’s direction to focus on products for the treatment of devastating, rare diseases. This represented a substantial shift in the original company’s business strategy of developing bio-similar drugs using its novel egg white (EW) protein production technology. The company’s proprietary technology produces proteins by recombinant DNA technology in egg white (EW) using a transgenic Gallus expression system. The proteins are then purified using conventional recombinant protein chromatographic methods. The EW system can consistently express proteins that contain glycan structures, predominantly GlcNAc- and mannose-terminated N-linked glycan structures, as well as mannose-6-phosphate (M6P) glycans, which are specifically recognized and internalized via receptors into key target cells.

With the support from a dedicated and experienced team, Synageva went public on the NASDAQ Global Market in November 2011 by completing a reverse merger with Trimeris, Inc. Synageva later relocated its corporate headquarters to Lexington, Massachusetts.

On May 6, 2015, Alexion Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: ALXN) and Synageva announced that they entered into a definitive agreement in which Alexion would acquire Synageva for a value of $230 per share. The transaction was unanimously approved by both companies’ Boards of Directors, and is valued at approximately $8.4 billion net of Synageva’s cash (total $9.1 billion). This was the one of the largest premiums paid to any company over $5 billion in market cap since 1995.

In July 2008, Mr. Patel designed and initiated Synageva’s lead program, Kanuma® (sebelipase alfa) to address a rare and devastating disease known as lysosomal acid lipase deficiency (LAL Deficiency). Kanuma is a recombinant form of the natural human LAL enzyme and an enzyme replacement therapy being developed for patients with LAL Deficiency. LAL Deficiency is a serious, life-threatening disease associated with early mortality and significant morbidity. LAL Deficiency is a chronic disease in which genetic mutations result in decreased activity of the LAL enzyme; this leads to marked accumulation of lipids in vital organs, blood vessels, and other tissues, resulting in progressive and multi-systemic organ damage including fibrosis, cirrhosis, liver failure, accelerated atherosclerosis, cardiovascular disease, and other devastating consequences. LAL Deficiency affects patients of all ages with sudden and unpredictable clinical complications manifesting from infancy through adulthood. The disease can be diagnosed with a simple blood test.

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