Pfizer said Tuesday it expects to complete its $43 billion acquisition of cancer-focused biotech Seagen this week after clearing key regulatory hurdles.
“Pfizer and Seagen have now received all required regulatory approvals,” Pfizer said in a press release that said a key anti-cartel waiting period in the US had ended. “Pfizer expects to close Seagen acquisition Dec. 14”.
The US pharmaceutical giant announced the transaction on March 13, highlighting Seagen’s prominence in innovative cancer treatment.
Buying Seagen “is good for patients in the fight against cancer,” said Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla.
After a boost in revenue due to the Covid-19 treatment Paxlovid and the vaccine Comirnaty, Pfizer faced a much tougher economic environment in 2023 with the pandemic recession.
In October, the company reported a quarterly loss due to a $5.6 billion writedown of inventories at Paxlovid and Comirnaty.
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Seagen, based in Washington state, has attracted the attention of big pharma with its work on antibody-drug conjugates that are “engineered to preferentially kill cancer cells.”
The European Union approved the transaction in October, saying the takeover did not raise competition concerns and would not adversely affect treatment prices.
But to win approval from US regulators with the Federal Trade Commission, Pfizer said it would donate royalties from sales of Bavencio in the United States to the American Association for Cancer Research.
Bavencio, also sold as Avelumab, is a prescription drug used to treat several types of cancer, including a skin cancer known as Merkel cell carcinoma.
Source: AFP