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Supernus enters depression drug market with up to $795 million Sage deal
By Puyaan Singh and Padmanabhan Ananthan - 6/16/2025
By Puyaan Singh and Padmanabhan Ananthan
(Reuters) -Supernus Pharmaceuticals will acquire Sage Therapeutics in a deal worth up to $795 million to gain access to the only postpartum depression pill approved in the United States.
The deal will help Supernus, which makes treatments for Parkinson's disease among others, enter the market for depression drugs, with postpartum depression (PPD) pill Zurzuvae, developed by Sage and Biogen.
Supernus CEO Jack Khattar called the pill a "dynamite addition" on a conference call on Monday and said it has the potential to become the standard-of-care option for PPD.
Shares of Sage, which makes drugs for neurological conditions, surged over 35% to $9.09. The stock fell nearly 75% last year due to multiple trial failures, but was up this year after Biogen made a $469 million takeover bid in January. Shares of Supernus rose 1.9%.
Biogen, which owns about 10% of Sage, had offered $7.22 for each share it did not own.
Supernus has offered $8.50 in cash for each share held and up to $3.50 per share in cash if certain milestones are achieved. Without the contingency offer, the deal is valued at about $561 million.
The $8.50 per share offer represents a premium of nearly 27% to Sage's closing price on Friday. Needham analyst Ami Fadia said Supernus' offer is also at a 17% premium over the Biogen offer.
"We believe the deal appropriately contemplates the growth potential for Zurzuvae," Fadia said.
CEO Khattar said it would get access to a network of obstetrician-gynecologists, who write 80% of Zurzuvae prescriptions.
According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 1 in 8 women report symptoms of depression after giving birth.
The companies expect the deal to close in the third quarter and be accretive to profit in 2026 for Supernus.
Supernus will be able to save up to $200 million on an annual basis through sharing research and development expenses, Khattar said.
(Reporting by Bhanvi Satija, Puyaan Singh and Padmanabhan Ananthan in Bengaluru; Editing by Shinjini Ganguli)