{"id":947154,"date":"2026-07-20T09:20:41","date_gmt":"2026-07-20T09:20:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/947154\/"},"modified":"2026-07-20T09:20:41","modified_gmt":"2026-07-20T09:20:41","slug":"a-promising-hormone-drug-leads-to-10-billion-sale-of-san-diegos-crinetics-pharmaceuticals-san-diego-union-tribune","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/947154\/","title":{"rendered":"A promising hormone drug leads to $10 billion sale of San Diego\u2019s Crinetics Pharmaceuticals \u2013 San Diego Union-Tribune"},"content":{"rendered":"

San Diego-based Crinetics Pharmaceuticals is being acquired by Boston\u2019s Vertex Pharmaceuticals for $10 billion \u2014 the largest deal in Vertex\u2019s history.<\/p>\n

Crinetics creates treatments for endocrine diseases, most notably through its lead product, Palsonify, a daily pill that treats adults with acromegaly \u2014 a rare hormonal disorder that causes abnormal bone growth, often resulting in enlarged hands, feet and facial features.<\/p>\n

Andr\u00e9 Ren\u00e9 Roussimoff, better known as Andr\u00e9 the Giant and who died in 1993, is a notable public figure who had the disease. Based on national estimates,<\/a>\u00a0<\/strong>150 to 200 people are diagnosed with the disease in San Diego, though acromegaly often goes undiagnosed.<\/p>\n

But what really excited Vertex CEO\u00a0<\/strong>Reshma Kewalramani was Crinetics\u2019 data from its Phase 2 clinical trial for atumelnant, a new daily pill that targets the production of cortisol.<\/p>\n

In the clinical trial, atumelnant was used to treat congenital adrenal hyperplasia, or CAH \u2014 a genetic disease in which people can\u2019t properly produce cortisol, which can affect growth, puberty and fertility.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen we saw that data, we were floored. That is very, very important to this field,\u201d said Kewalramani on a call announcing the deal last week.<\/p>\n

Atumelnant is also being studied as a treatment for Cushing syndrome, a disease that occurs when the body produces too much cortisol for too long, leading to weight gain, high blood pressure and other serious metabolic effects.<\/p>\n

Vertex paid a premium for the San Diego company, purchasing Crinetics for $85 per share, a 102% premium on its price of $42.03 at the close of the market when the deal was announced July 6.<\/p>\n

Vertex estimates that Palsonify and atumelnant will add more than $5 billion in annual peak sales potential to its portfolio.<\/p>\n

Crinetics has more than 10 drugs in its pipeline, and before the acquisition, the company was working to commercialize its recently approved drug, Palsonify.<\/p>\n

Palsonify received Food and Drug Administration approval last September,\u00a0<\/strong>and by the end of the year, it had generated $5.4 million in revenue.<\/p>\n

But commercializing drugs is no small feat for small startups.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s common practice in the biotech industry for startups to sell to larger pharmaceutical companies that have the facilities and infrastructure to bring the science to consumers.<\/p>\n

According to company filings from February, Crinetics said it expected to operate at a net loss for the \u201cforeseeable future\u201d as commercialization costs were projected to rise.<\/p>\n

\u201cVertex\u2019s global infrastructure and commercial footprint will serve to amplify the reach of our science and allow us to maximize the impact of Palsonify, atumelnant and our pipeline,\u201d Dr. Scott Struthers, founder and chief executive officer of Crinetics, said in a news release.<\/p>\n

Vertex declined to comment, and Crinetics did not respond when asked what may happen to its San Diego footprint.<\/p>\n

Crinetics\u2019 Sorrento Valley headquarters spans roughly 94,000 square feet of laboratory and office space under a lease that runs through April 2035.<\/p>\n

The company has 594 full-time employees, 150 of whom have a doctorate or medical degree.<\/p>\n

The companies expect the deal to close in the third quarter.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"San Diego-based Crinetics Pharmaceuticals is being acquired by Boston\u2019s Vertex Pharmaceuticals for $10 billion \u2014 the largest deal…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":947155,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5134],"tags":[5229,3653,64,1582,276,1370,3549,7264,7289,67,586,132,5230,68,2969],"class_list":["post-947154","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-diego","tag-america","tag-biotech","tag-business","tag-ca","tag-california","tag-latest-headlines","tag-san-diego","tag-sandiego","tag-top-stories-sdut","tag-united-states","tag-united-states-of-america","tag-unitedstates","tag-unitedstatesofamerica","tag-us","tag-usa"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/947154","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=947154"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/947154\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/947155"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=947154"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=947154"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=947154"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}