Pfizer Inc. is close to an
agreement to buy Medivation Inc. for about $14 Billion. By acquiring
Medivation, Pfizer would gain a blockbuster prostate cancer treatment, Xtandi,
that’s already approved for sale in the US and elsewhere, and that analyst project
will generate $1.33 Billion in annual sales by 2020.
A $14 Billion purchase of
Medivation would be Pfizer’s biggest deal since buying Hospira Inc. for about
$17 Billion last year, and the company is a rare prize. As oncology becomes one
of the hottest areas in drug development, large drug and biotechnology firms
have found only a few mid-sized targets with revenue generating, approved
treatments.
Medivation also comes with two
experimental products a drug for breast cancer and another for the blood cancer
lymphoma. The breast cancer drug belongs to a class of treatments known as PARP
inhibitors, which disrupt cancer cell’s process of DNA repair. The drug,
talazoparib may well be the most potent medicine in the PARP class, with
estimates annual peak sales may reach $3 Billion.
By spurning Sanofi initial offer,
valued at about $9 Billion, Medivation was able to bring in more potential
suitors and drive up the bidding. Gilead Sciences Inc., Celgene Corp. and Amgen
Inc. were among the other drug makers reported to consider the deal.
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