I don't really see any pharma companies bidding - although perhaps another biotech might (doubtful though). They are simply too conservative - they almost always wait for approval, and then pay more. Sure, you get essentially two free options (Gattex & Preos) when you buy NPS (since current mkt cap probably worth less than NPV of royalties. But if you're an exec at big pharma, it is simply not worth your time and doesn't look good for your career if you buy a company and then both of NPS drugs fail, and you are left collecting miniscule royalties. Current mkt cap is what, $150m? Big pharma would always prefer to pay $1.5bn with certainty the drug is approved vs $250m with risk.

Anyway, that's fine with me. I'd prefer the chance (which I think it relatively high) at $40 in five years vs $9 tomorrow.