Cancer Drugmaker Immunomedics To Bee Acquired By Gilead For $21 Billion


09/15/2020



The portfolio of the drugs and treatments for cancer of Gilead Sciences Inc will be boosted by the decision of the company to acquire biopharmaceutical firm Immunomedics Inc in a deal that is worth $21 billion. The deal would give Gilead direct access to a promising drug. This was announced by the two companies while making the announcement for the deal.
 
As and when the deal gets completed, Gilead will gain access to Immunomedics’ breast cancer treatment drug, Trodelvy, which has already been given an accelerated FDA approval in April.
 
A tender offer to purchase all of the outstanding shares of Immunomedics at a value of $88 per share will be issued by it, Gilead said. That price of the shares of Immunomedics as offered by Gilead will be at a premium of about 108 per cent compared to the last closing price of the shares at $42.25 on September 11.
 
“This acquisition represents significant progress in Gilead’s work to build a strong and diverse oncology portfolio,” Gilead Chief Executive Officer Daniel O’Day said in a statement. “Trodelvy is an approved, transformational medicine for a form of cancer that is particularly challenging to treat. We will now continue to explore its potential to treat many other types of cancer,”
 
According to the statement, Immunomedics is also almost ready to file to an application to get a regulatory approval for its drug Trodelvy for the European market and it is expected to file the application in the first half of 2021.
 
The funding for the acquisition would comprise of $15 billion in cash on hand with Gilead as ell as by a debt of $6 billion raised through newly issued debt, the drugmaker said.
 
The two companies said they both expect the deal to close in the fourth quarter of 2020.
 
So far this year, Gilead has been engaged in undertaking a number of acquisitions and the deal to take over Immunomedics is its latest in that acquisition spree. Through these multiple acquisitions, Gilead is attempting to expand its oncology portfolio.
 
In June, a 49.9 per cent stake in cancer drug developer Pionyr Immunotherapeutics has taken up by the company for a value of $275 million. A few months prior to it, the company had struck a deal worth $4.9 billion for Forty Seven Inc, which is the manufacturer of an experimental treatment that targets blood cancer.
 
(Source:www.cnbctv18.com)