Vertex Pharmaceuticals in $320 Million Public Offering of Common Stock

Cleary Gottlieb represented Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith Incorporated and Cowen and Company, LLC as underwriters in Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated’s $320 million registered public offering of 10,000,000 shares of common stock, which is listed on the Nasdaq Global Select Market. The deal was upsized due to demand, and it priced on February 18 and closed on February 24.

Vertex Pharmaceuticals is in the business of discovering, developing and commercializing small molecule drugs for the treatment of serious diseases. Its focus is on viral diseases, inflammation, autoimmune diseases, cancer, pain and cystic fibrosis. Vertex Pharmaceuticals’ lead drug candidate, telaprevir, is an oral hepatitis C protease inhibitor and one of the most advanced of a new class of antiviral treatments in clinical development that targets hepatitis C virus infection.