The BioMarin campus at 770 Linardo St. in San Rafael.
As the New Year beckons, BioMarin Inc. (BMRN) has a new CEO leading the company and has gained ground in Europe via its drug for severe hemophilia A, Roctavian.
But flying under the radar is a more subtle change. Elliott Investment Management LP, an activist hedge fund founded by Paul Singer, has taken a $1 billion stake in the Marin-based biotech that focuses on orphan diseases.
Orphan diseases are conditions that are rare and have smaller patient populations. The U.S. Food and Drug Administrations has put a protocol in place designed to reward pharmaceutical and biotech companies for pursuing treatments for the so called orphan diseases, cutting development costs to the companies.
As of Dec. 4, BioMarin shares were trading at $94.08, giving the company a market capitalization of $17.7 billion. Over the last year, shares have traded between almost $118 and $76.
Elliott’s stake is not insignificant. A billion here and a billion there and pretty soon it’s real money. More to the point, when Elliott invests in companies, it is usually about more than balancing a portfolio or pursuing a specific sector. In the past, Elliott invested in both Allergan Plc. and Alexion Pharmaceuticals and successfully pushed for their sales. Allergan was sold to AbbVie and Alexion is now owned by Astra Zeneca.
Just because Elliott owns shares in BioMarin doesn’t mean it is on the block or that change is imminent. But it’s track record does suggest that at some point in the coming year the fund is going to want something besides a dividend check from the company. Thus far, Elliott has not made any public demands.
BioMarin has more than 3,000 employees worldwide, with offices in Novato, San Rafael, South America, Asia and Europe. The company has not had a public comment on Elliott’s investment.
Elliott’s wishes are no longer Jean-Jacques Bienaime’s worry. At age 70, Bienaime, CEO of BioMarin since 2005, pulled the plug and retired. He was replaced Dec. 1 by Alexander Hardy, a biotech vet who was CEO at Genentech, just over the bridge in San Francisco.
BioMarin already won approval from the FDA for Roctavian and in Germany with German National Association of Statutory Health Insurance Funds on the reimbursement amount it can expect for the hemophilia drug.
The price, according to the company, equals about $900,000 per patient in net revenues. Roctavian is a one-time single-dose therapy delivered to patients via an intravenous infusion over a 3-4 hour period.
The show is over
Texas-based Cinemark has once again shut down a Marin facility. It shuttered its six screen Regency 6 theater in San Rafael’s Smith Ranch office park. A theater stalwart for decades, the Regency was shutdown by Cinemark when its lease ran out and, according to the company, the closure was simply business as usual and not a reflection on the location.
Its Marin track record might suggest otherwise. At any rate, moviegoers will need to find someplace else to buy a $10 bag of popcorn.
The closure is part of a nationwide trend that was accelerated by COVID, as people have grown accustomed to viewing movies at home and have more streaming choices including first-run releases. Cineworld filed for bankruptcy in September and plans to close 130 theaters. AMC, the largest chain in the country at the time, closed all of its theaters in 2020.
And Cinemark has aggressively shut theaters in Marin. Corte Madera’s Century Theater was shut down in 2020. Century Larkspur Landing Theater was closed in 2023 before being taken over by Petaluma-based Cinema West Inc. Cinemark also scampered out of the Sequoia Theater in Mill Valley. The owner of the property, the California Film Institute, is moving in.
Your Marin Moment
Despite a tough housing market with rising mortgage rates, our friends at Property Shark have a gentle reminder. You’re gonna need a bigger boat if you go house shopping in Marin.
The annual rankings of most expensive ZIP codes in our fair country have been released—and Marin can take a bow with six different burgs represented. Stinson Beach checks in at no. 6, Ross is number 21, with Belvedere and Tiburon next door at 22. Larkspur captured a 55 ranking, with Mill Valley at 76 and Greenbrae sneaking in at 91.
Stinson Beach’s median house price tag of $4.5 million suggests that those seeking a home on the coast need to pack more than a swimsuit. Old-money Ross boasts a median home of $3.4 million. Belvedere/Tiburon, towns named after a vodka and shark respectively, are only slightly less expensive at $3.2 million. Larkspur seems like a bargain at $2.29 million, while Mill Valley is only $2.05 million. The median price in Greenbrae is just $1.92 million.
Bill Meagher is a contributing editor at NorthBay biz. He is also a senior reporter at The Deal, a Manhattan digital financial news outlet where he covers alternative investment, SPACs, and the SEC. He hopes that 2024 brings you good health, happiness and peace and that the Giants finally get it figured out.
