New York, May 17, 2026, 17:02 (EDT)
Biogen wrapped up its purchase of Apellis Pharmaceuticals last week, ending Apellis’ time as a listed company as its shares stopped trading on Nasdaq. Each Apellis holder will get $41 per share in cash and one contingent value right. The CVR will pay out if certain future sales targets are hit.
APLS is moving to a new phase. Last week was all tender results, delisting, and payout details, but this week is about settlement. The Monday open is no longer the focus.
Apellis shares last traded at $41.03, just over the cash part of Biogen’s proposed deal. Biogen shares, now the key stock for anyone tracking the acquired assets, closed at $192.95 after Friday’s U.S. session.
Biogen’s tender offer ended at 12:00 a.m. Eastern time on May 14. Apellis holders tendered 105,687,831 shares, or about 82.4% of those outstanding. Biogen accepted the shares for payment on May 14.
The process sped up from there. Apellis notified Nasdaq it planned to close the merger and wanted trading halted at 8:00 p.m. Eastern time on May 13. The company asked Nasdaq to move ahead with delisting and deregistration at the SEC. On May 14, Apellis was fully owned by Biogen.
Biogen is buying Apellis to get two marketed drugs: Syfovre, for geographic atrophy tied to advanced age-related macular degeneration, and Empaveli/Aspaveli, a complement therapy in rare kidney and blood diseases. Complement therapies act on a part of the immune system that can harm tissue if too active.
Biogen CEO Christopher Viehbacher said the buyout “immediately advances Biogen’s ongoing transformation” when the deal was made public. Apellis co-founder and ex-CEO Cedric Francois described it as “a compelling outcome for our shareholders” after a tough run for Apellis shares on their own. GlobeNewswire
Analysts didn’t see the deal as an out-of-left-field bet but as a reset move for Biogen. BMO Capital’s Evan Seigerman told Reuters that Apellis could “meaningfully change” how the market looks at Biogen’s near-term revenue. CEO Viehbacher said the “intrinsic value” of Apellis, pointing to the kidney business, mattered more than where the stock traded pre-bid. Reuters
Astellas is still pressing on in the eye-drug market. The company, which sells Izervay for geographic atrophy, said on May 15 that China’s drug regulator accepted its new drug application for avacincaptad pegol and granted it Priority Review. The move keeps global sales in play.
The CVR is the sticking point. This isn’t a traded security and holders could see zero if Syfovre falls short. The deal will pay $2 if annual net sales hit $1.5 billion any year from 2027 to 2030. It adds another $2 if sales top $2 billion through 2031. There’s a chance for $4 in 2031, but only in specific cases. The rights are locked up—non-transferable except for rare reasons and will not trade on an exchange.
Biogen reported $689 million in net product revenue from the Apellis drugs in 2025. The company plans to update its financial guidance with its second-quarter results in July. For ex-APLS holders, the focus is shifting. It’s no longer about Apellis’s opening levels, but whether Biogen can deliver on the growth it paid for with the acquisition.
