LONDON, Mar 5 (APM) - Takeovers in the pharma industry show no sign of letting up with with latest deal involving AbbVie agreeing to buy Pharmacyclics for $21 billion, a move it said will boost its presence in oncology and reduce its dependence on its top-selling drug Humira (adalimumab).
AbbVie gains Imbruvica (ibrutinib) for blood cancers with the takeover. The agreed deal confounds recent press speculation that Novartis and Johnson & Johnson were the most likely to snap up the California-based company (APMMA 41637).
AbbVie said in a late Wednesday statement the deal will involve it paying a mix of $261.25 per share in cash and AbbVie stock, a 13% premium to Pharmacyclics stock's closing price on Wednesday. In 2008 and 2009, Pharmacyclics' share price dipped below $1. The takeover deal is valued at about $21 billion.
The acquisition reduces AbbVie's dependence on its blockbuster rheumatoid arthritis drug Humira that accounts for most of its revenue. Humira was the world's biggest-selling drug at $12.5 billion in 2014 (APMMA 41334).
The agreed deal follows AbbVie's failure last October to buy Dublin-based Shire for $55 billion after the U.S. authorities took steps to deter tax-lowering deals.
AbbVie's chief executive Richard Gonzalez said on Wednesday: "Imbruvica is not only complementary to AbbVie's oncology pipeline, it has demonstrated strong clinical efficacy across a broad range of hematologic malignancies."
The company, which was spun out of Abbott Laboratories in 2013, said the deal would be "highly accretive" to its revenue and earnings by 2017. It said the deal is expected to complete in the middle of the year.
Imbruvica in January received U.S. Food & Drug Administration clearance for a fourth indication, in Waldenstrom's macroglobulinemia (APMMA 41279). It adds to existing indications in mantle cell lymphoma and two for chronic lymphocytic leukaemia (CLL).
Pharmacyclics has said previously it wants to add at least one more indication every year for the treatment, which it said is expected to reach $1 billion in the U.S. this year.
Pharmacyclics co-markets Imbruvica with Johnson & Johnson. Besides Imbruvica, it has three product candidates in development.
In a separate statement, J&J said: "We're looking forward to continuing our collaboration with the team at AbbVie to further develop and commercialise this important therapy for patients and their health care teams."
Media reports had said J&J was close to buying Pharmacyclics. Novartis was also interested in the company, a report said.
The acquisition is the latest in a spate of big pharma deals this year as many companies are strengthening their portfolios as older drugs face generic competition.
Last month, Pfizer agreed to buy Hospira for about $15 billion and Canada's Valeant Pharmaceuticals International agreed to buy Salix Pharmaceuticals Ltd for about $10 billion.
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