Relypsa, Inc. (NASDAQ: RLYP)
Rumors hit on Friday of Merck & Co. (MRK) planning to make a bid to acquire Relypsa (RLYP). RLYP is a biopharmaceutical company with a market cap of 1.10 billion dollars, while MRK a health care giant has a market cap of 148.90 billion dollars. “A representative from Relypsa said they do not comment on market speculation when asked to respond to the rumor. A representative from Merck also declined to comment.” Back in November competitor ZS Pharma (ZSPH) was acquired by AstraZeneca (AZN), for around $2.7 billion. ZS Pharma had a lot of interested buyers pursuing to acquire them. Since then there has been speculation that Relypsa was ripe to be the next possible high profile takeover. Street Insider
RLYP Technical Analysis
RLYP gapped up in price on Friday to $23.00, up from the prior day’s close of $22.32, which is a 3% increase. Taking a look at the daily chart, we can see that RLYP has been on an overall upswing dating back to October 22nd when it traded at its 52 week low price of $10.26. News hit around 11:45 am on Friday that there are rumors of Merck & Co (MRK) planning to acquire RLYP. RLYP stock jumped from $22.09 to highs of $27.49 a 25% increase in price within a matter of 15 minutes. It will be interesting to see what the stock’s reaction will be if the news is confirmed. Obviously, if the rumors prove to be false, expect a quick pullback in price. RLYP does have a float of 32.23 million shares and was trading almost 5 times the normal daily trading volume. I would expect the stock to find a medium price and level off until further news is received to either verify or disprove the rumors.
Company Profile
Relypsa, Inc., incorporated on August 23, 2007, is a biopharmaceutical company focused on the development and commercialization of non-absorbed polymeric drugs to treat disorders in the areas of renal, cardiovascular and metabolic diseases. The Company’s lead product candidate, Patiromer for Oral Suspension, or Patiromer FOS, is for the treatment of hyperkalemia, a life-threatening condition defined as abnormally elevated levels of potassium in the blood. Its New Drug Application (NDA) for Patiromer FOS was accepted for filing by the United States Food and Drug Administration, or FDA. The Company’s NDA is supported by a clinical development program consisting of eight clinical trials: three Phase I trials, four Phase II trials and one two-part Phase III trial conducted under a Special Protocol Assessment, or SPA. Patiromer FOS, which is offered for the treatment of hyperkalemia, is a high capacity potassium binding polymer. Patiromer FOS is administered to patients as a powder that is suspended in a small amount of water for ingestion. The active ingredient is a cross-linked polymeric bead with a calcium containing counterion. The Company has the global royalty-free commercialization rights to Patiromer FOS. Reuters
