Antibe Therapeutics Inc(Pre-Merger) ATBPF

This could be us not to far down the road⏰📈

[Duster340]

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https://www.ft.com/content/bc85eb2a-9a55-4a86-9048-4de696a651bc

Pfizer has agreed to acquire oncology-focused biotech Seagen for a total enterprise value of $43bn as the US pharmaceutical company refills its drugs pipeline amid a sharp fall in sales of its Covid-19 products. The deal is the largest pharmaceutical transaction since AbbVie agreed to buy Allergan for $63bn in 2019 and signals a rebound in mergers and acquisitions following a dip in activity last year, according to analysts. Pfizer will spend $229 in cash per share to buy Seagen, funding the transaction through $31bn of new long-term debt, as well as short-term financing and cash. The company is paying a premium of about 35 per cent to Seagen’s closing price on Friday. Pfizer’s chief executive Albert Bourla said the pharma group was “deploying its financial resources to advance the battle against cancer”. He added that oncology continued to be “the largest growth driver in global medicine” so the deal contributed to Pfizer’s near and long-term financial goals. The group already has 24 approved cancer medicines, and 33 programmes in clinical development. Shares in Pfizer fell 2.9 per cent to $38.25 in pre-market trading on Monday. Seagen shares were up 17 per cent at $203. Many of the world’s largest pharmaceutical companies are sitting on significant cash piles and need to invigorate their pipelines of medicines, as key drugs go off patent before the end of the decade. Earlier on Monday, French pharmaceutical company Sanofi struck a deal to buy Type-1 diabetes treatment developer Provention Bio for $2.9bn, in a bid to bolster its drug pipeline after facing pressure from investors to make more acquisitions. Pfizer has been under pressure to do a big deal, after the company forecast that revenues would slump by a third to between $67bn to $71bn in 2023 owing to steep falls in sales of Covid vaccines and treatments. Despite a significant drop in biotech stocks over the past year, large pharmaceutical companies have shown little interest in picking up assets cheaply. Instead, they have tended to search for less risky companies, with drugs either on the market or close to approval.