Sanofi Acquires Dynavax for $15.50 Per Share, Paying 39% Premium to Bolster Vaccine Pipeline with Hepatitis B and Shingles Candidates
Sanofi Pays 39% Premium for Dynavax, Securing Key Vaccine Assets
Sanofi announced on Tuesday, December 24, 2025, that it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Dynavax Technologies Corporation (DVAX), a publicly traded vaccines company. The deal values Dynavax stockholders at $15.50 in cash per share, which represents a significant 39% premium to Dynavax’s closing share price on the preceding day, December 23, 2025.
The acquisition is a clear move by Sanofi to strengthen its vaccine pipeline, immediately adding a marketed product and a differentiated late-stage candidate. The key assets secured in the transaction include Dynavax’s marketed adult hepatitis B vaccine, HEPLISAV-B®, and a promising Phase 1/2 shingles vaccine candidate.
Strategic Rationale: Expanding the Vaccine Portfolio
The addition of HEPLISAV-B® provides Sanofi with an established product in the adult hepatitis B market. Furthermore, the shingles vaccine candidate offers potential long-term growth in a highly competitive and lucrative therapeutic area. This strategic move underscores the pharmaceutical industry’s continued focus on acquiring specialized assets to drive future revenue growth and mitigate risks associated with patent cliffs and regulatory hurdles.
The transaction follows a period of intense scrutiny and activity within the pharmaceutical sector, particularly concerning pricing and valuation. Analysts have recently been assessing Sanofi’s own valuation, suggesting the company may be trading at a discount.
The DCF framework arrives at an intrinsic value of about €280 per share for Sanofi, which implies steady, compounding growth in cash generation as its pipeline matures.
This intrinsic value calculation is based on projections that Sanofi’s free cash flow is expected to rise to roughly €17.6 billion by 2035, starting from a last twelve month free cash flow of about €8.1 billion. The acquisition of Dynavax, with its immediate revenue-generating asset and pipeline potential, is seen as a way to reinforce this long-term cash flow trajectory.
Industry Context: Pricing Deals and Valuation
The acquisition comes just days after major developments regarding drug pricing in the United States. The Trump administration finalized deals with nine big pharmaceutical companies, including Merck (MRK) and GlaxoSmithKline (GSK), to lower certain U.S. prices for their medicines. These pacts are part of a broader series of agreements designed to reduce drug costs for some Americans, often in exchange for regulatory or tariff relief.
The companies involved in these pricing agreements include:
- Merck
- GlaxoSmithKline
- Novartis
- Other major drugmakers
These regulatory and pricing pressures have made pipeline expansion through strategic mergers and acquisitions (M&A) a critical strategy for large pharmaceutical firms like Sanofi. By acquiring companies like Dynavax, Sanofi can diversify its revenue streams away from areas facing the most severe pricing scrutiny, focusing instead on specialized vaccines where demand remains high.
While the market has been focused on these pricing negotiations, analysts have also highlighted Sanofi’s potential as a bargain following recent share price weakness. The company’s price-to-earnings (PE) ratio is being scrutinized as a useful gauge for investors, with faster growth and lower perceived risk typically justifying a higher multiple. The Dynavax acquisition is likely intended to provide the necessary growth catalyst to support a higher valuation multiple for Sanofi moving forward.
