(Bloomberg) -- Cycle Pharmaceuticals Ltd. is still interested in acquiring Vanda Pharmaceuticals Inc. after one of Vanda’s drugs failed to receive regulatory approval.
Cambridge, UK-based Cycle reaffirmed its $488 million offer in a statement on Monday that confirmed an earlier Bloomberg News report.
While Cycle is sticking by its $8-a-share bid, Vanda’s board has declined to discuss the proposal and has instead imposed new rules aimed at thwarting it, Cycle said in its statement.
Vanda said in a separate statement Monday that its board had received Cycle’s second “economically identical” proposal to buy Vanda and “unanimously determined that it substantially undervalues Vanda and is not in the best interests of the company and its stockholders.”
Vanda shares jumped as much as 19% on Monday. The stock was up 11% to $4.95 at 12:07 p.m. in New York trading, giving the company a market value of about $288 million.
In June, Cycle confirmed an earlier Bloomberg News report that it was offering to buy Vanda. At the time, Vanda responded that it had received an “unsolicited, non-binding indication of interest” that it would review.
Based in Washington and with offices in London and Berlin, Vanda owns the commercial rights to three drugs treating conditions including a rare sleep disorder, schizophrenia and relapsing forms of multiple sclerosis. Vanda failed to secure approval from the US Food and Drug Administration for tradipitant, aimed at treating symptoms in gastroparesis, the company said in a statement last month.
Cycle was founded in 2012 and has six drugs on the market that treat rare metabolic and immunological conditions, as well as multiple sclerosis.
--With assistance from Deirdre Hipwell.
(Updates with Vanda statement in fourth paragraph.)
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