Bristol Myers Squibb investors are worried that slowdowns at the FDA caused by coronavirus fears may get in the way of a payment they were promised after the drugmaker's Celgene takeover, Bloomberg reported.
Investors were promised a contingent value right, or CVR, depending on the approval of three drugs Bristol Myers acquired in the deal. A CVR is a tradable security that is sometimes included in drugmaker deals when there is a high risk or reward for experimental treatment, according to Bloomberg.
According to the deal, all three drugs must be approved by set deadlines. If one drug doesn't meet the deadline, there is no payment.
The first of the three drugs, ozanimod, has a deadline of March 25, but the FDA is postponing all nonessential meetings through April. It is unclear whether the FDA will consider a vote on the Bristol Myers drugs an essential meeting.
An analyst from Mizuho, a Tokyo-based retail banking company, told Bloomberg he still thinks the drug will meet the March 25 deadline, but that there has been "a fair deal of panic among investors.”
The value of the payout has fallen by 16 percent since the coronavirus fears began in February, according to Bloomberg.
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