Pfizer’s $14bn move to bring Medivation under its wing adds yet another string to the pharma giant’s bow, with major drug Xtandi coming into Pfizer’s ownership through the deal.
Expected to “immediately accelerate revenue growth”, Pfizer’s multi-billion-dollar deal values Medivation at $81.50 a share.
Xtandi, the latter’s landmark drug, targets prostate cancer, acting as an androgen receptor inhibitor within the tumour cell.
“The proposed acquisition of Medivation is expected to immediately accelerate revenue growth and drive overall earnings growth potential for Pfizer,” said Ian Read, chairman and CEO of Pfizer.
“The addition of Medivation will strengthen Pfizer’s innovative health business and accelerate its pathway to a leadership position in oncology, one of our key focus areas, which we believe will drive greater growth and scale of that business over the long-term.
“This transaction is another example of how we are effectively deploying our capital to generate attractive returns and create shareholder value.”
Xtandi alone has generated $2.2bn in sales since its creation, though Medivation also sports two development-stage oncology assets, talazoparib and pidilizumab.
“We believe the combination with Pfizer is the right next step in our growth trajectory and is a testament to the passion and dedication by which the Medivation team has delivered on our mission to profoundly transform patients’ lives through medically innovative therapies,” said David Hung, founder of Medivation.
“We believe that Pfizer is the ideal partner to extend the reach of our blockbuster Xtandi franchise and take our promising, late-stage assets – talazoparib and pidiluzimab – to their next stages of development so that they can be made available to patients as quickly as possible.”
Pfizer is an active operator in the mergers and acquisitions field, with an astonishing $160bn merger with Dublin-based Allergen taking years to go through all due process, before being blocked earlier this year.
Since then, Pfizer has spent $5.2bn buying up Anacor Pharmaceuticals, the maker of an eczema gel, as well as this Medivation deal.
The company was most recently in the news for joining a growing list of pharmaceutical manufacturers banning the use of its drugs in executions, such as lethal injections.
So far, more than 20 companies in the US and Europe have issued a banning order on their drugs being used to end human life, and, as of May, Pfizer, one of the largest biopharma companies in the world, has added its name to the list.
Main Pfizer image via Roman Tiraspolsky/Shutterstock
