RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK – United Therapeutics, which operates a large manufacturing facility in RTP, says it is expanding its research and development into organ manufacturing by acquiring Minnesota-based Miromatrix Medical.
The deal, which was announced early Monday, calls for United (Nasdaq: UTHR) to pay some $91 million in cash for Miromatrix Medical (Nasdaq: MIRO) shares at $3.25 per share. Another $1.75 will be paid per share if “development-stage, fully-implantable manufactured kidney product known as mirokidney by December 31, 2025,” United said in the announcement.
“At United Therapeutics, we are determined to rectify the severe shortage of transplantable organs,” said Martine Rothblatt, Chairperson and Chief Executive Officer of United Therapeutics. “We expect that Miromatrix will help us in this mission, bringing a number of new approaches, highly-skilled personnel, and state of the art facilities as additional shots on goal to complement our existing organ manufacturing programs.”
United Therapeutics, which is based in Maryland, said it is paying a premium of 170% over the “weighted” average price of Miromatrix shares dating to Oct. 27.
Here’s how United Therapeutics describes Miromatrix and its research:
“Miromatrix is a life sciences company focused on the development of bioengineered organs composed of human cells. United Therapeutics is a biotechnology company with six FDA-approved therapies to address rare, life-threatening conditions, and a pipeline that includes four ongoing registration-phase studies.”
United Therapeutics said the deal expands “existing complementary platform of organ manufacturing programs, which include ex-vivo lung perfusion, xenotransplantation, 3-D bioprinting, and regenerative medicine approaches with the objective of creating an unlimited supply of tolerable, transplantable organs.”
