The U.S. SEC settled charges against Philip Markin, a fifth person charged in connection with an insider trading scheme involving the February 2021 $1.85 billion offer by Merck & Co. Inc. to acquire Pandion Therapeutics Inc.
The U.S. SEC is settling insider trading charges against Nirdosh Jagota, former vice president of global regulatory affairs at Merck & Co. Inc., stemming from Merck’s $1.85 billion acquisition of Pandion Therapeutics Inc. in 2021.
A Jan. 27 settlement the U.S. SEC reached with a former vice president at a biotech company serves as a reminder that insider trading rules applies to suppliers as well as the companies involved in an M&A.
Insider trading appears to be the U.S. SEC violation du jour. The agency filed insider trading charges against 10 individuals July 25, including a former FBI trainee and his friend who made about $82,000 and $1.3 million, respectively, from illegally trading ahead of the February 2021 announcement of Merck & Co. Inc.’s $1.85 billion tender offer to acquire Pandion Therapeutics Inc.
Merck & Co. Inc. is paying $1.85 billion, or $60 per share, to acquire Pandion Therapeutics Inc. on the back of early stage data in human volunteers for its lead program, PT-101, an engineered interleukin-2 mutein fused to an Fc backbone, which is designed to stimulate targeted expansion of regulatory T cells for use in autoimmune disease indications.
Kendall Square was a great jumping-off point for Cambridge, Mass.’s Pandion Therapeutics Inc. but with an $80 million series B in its pocket, the time has come to pick up sticks to accommodate its growth.
Pandion Therapeutics Inc.'s deal with Astellas Pharma Inc. brings as much as $45 million in up-front money and payments related to research and preclinical activities, with potentially more than $750 million in development and commercial milestone rewards to come, plus royalties if products reach the market.
