Astellas Pharma acquires Iveric Bio for $5.9 billion – Kommersant
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Japanese pharmaceutical company Astellas agreed with the American Iveric Bio to buy all of its shares at a price of $40 each, which is 64% higher than their value at the close of trading on March 31 – the last day before negotiations began. The total amount of the transaction will be about $5.9 billion. This is the largest acquisition in the history of a Japanese company. In addition, since 2019, this is the fifth major purchase by Astellas of its foreign competitors.
Based in New Jersey, Iveric specializes in the development of treatments for diseases of the retina. Iveric’s key asset is Avacincaptad Pegol (ACP), which is currently in clinical trials. It is intended to treat geographic atrophy, an advanced stage of macular degeneration, a common cause of vision loss in older people. In February, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) completed its review of Iveric’s application and announced that it would consider listing it on the prescription drug list by mid-August this year. If approved by the FDA, the drug could go on sale by the end of 2023.
Recently, many large pharmaceutical companies are trying to expand their drug portfolio by acquiring developers and manufacturers of innovative drugs and drugs for the treatment of orphan diseases. Among the major transactions of recent times – purchase Merck biotech company Imago for $1.4 billion last November, and merger American biotechnology company Amgen with Irish Horizon Therapeutics in December. The deal was valued at $27.8 billion. In addition, in August last year, Amgen bought another maker of drugs for the treatment of rare autoimmune diseases, ChemoCentryx, for $3.7 billion.
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