ZURICH (Reuters) - Shareholders in Swiss biotech group Actelion (S:ATLN) approved on Wednesday spinning off its drug discovery and early clinical pipeline into a new company, keeping Johnson & Johnson's (N:JNJ) $30 billion (24.03 billion pounds) takeover on track to close in the second quarter.
"After a very successful two decades, resulting in an unprecedented share price increase of more than 2,000 percent since our IPO, the next chapter for Actelion awaits," Chairman Jean-Pierre Garnier said after the annual meeting.
"With the successful tender offer by Johnson & Johnson, regulatory approvals on track, and today's approval by the shareholders to spin out Idorsia, the transaction is moving ahead at full steam."
Johnson & Johnson last month declared its tender offer a success and reported it controlled 77.2 percent of Actelion's voting rights after the main offer period.
J&J intends to delist Actelion, while the new research and development company led by Actelion founder Jean-Paul Clozel will have a separate Swiss listing.