When Onyx Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ:ONXX) bought Proteolix Inc. on
Oct. 12, (The Deal Pipeline subscription required) it was the first-ever acquisition for the 17-year-old Emeryville, Calif. firm. And in an industry underpinned by licensing deals, Onyx has only signed two, both coming in 2008. Rather than look outside for growth, Onyx has been developing Nexavar, a drug approved in more than 100 countries to treat liver and kidney cancers.
What's it like to build a deal culture in a firm that's long been laser focused on a single product? We asked Juergen Lasowski, who was hired as senior vice president of corporate development in May 2008 to lead the effort, and Andrew Hindman, one of his top lieutenants. (For more on Lasowski and Hindman, see
this article in the
current issue of The Deal magazine.)
It helps, says Lasowski, that there is an experienced M&A executive leading Onyx. "Our CEO Tony Cole came two months before I did, and we worked together at NPS Pharmaceuticals for two years." During that time NPS did a handful of deals. Cole also previously held a number of executive positions at acquisitive pharma companies, including Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. (NYSE:BMY), where he was for a time SVP of strategy and policy.
"But for a company like Onyx, it's still a learning experience to do deals," says Lasowski.
Which is why Lasowski and Hindman have been educating and developing relationships with the managers throughout the company who will ultimately own any targets that are acquired.
Says Hindman:
"We spoke very openly with our cross-functional colleagues about the need to create a deal culture, and that Onyx was only going to grow through licensing and acquisitions. We included them broadly in the Proteolix deal so they could own the outcome rather than it being a corporate development [initiative]." That's particularly important now as Onyx goes about integrating Proteolix and its blood cancer treatment research into the Onyx portfolio. and as it begins eying its next target. -
Suzanne Stevens
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