AstraZeneca is resetting the clock to give the Federal Trade Commission more time to review its roughly US$39 billion bid for Alexion Pharmaceuticals, the latter company disclosed Monday, March 15.
In the biggest biopharma deal this year, AstraZeneca has agreed to acquire Alexion Pharmaceuticals, a Boston-based company specializing in rare disease drugs, for US$39 billion.
The deal, which is expected to close sometime between July and September, would have AstraZeneca hand over US$60 in cash and roughly 2.1 American Depositary Shares — each one-half the value of an ordinary AstraZeneca share — for every share of Alexion.
Alexion’s first product, Soliris, which in 2007 became the only FDA-approved treatment for a rare and potentially life-threatening blood disorder called paroxysmal nocturnal hemoglobinuria. For years, Soliris ranked as one of the world’s most expensive medicines, with a list price in the hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Since then, Soliris has been approved to treat three more rare conditions. Alexion has also added four more drugs to its portfolio — one of which, Ultomiris, is meant to offset encroaching challenges to Soliris from generic competition. During the first nine months of this year, Alexion recorded almost US$4.5 billion in net sales, an increase of 24% from the same period in 2019.
Want more news? Subscribe to CPI’s free daily newsletter for more headlines and updates on antitrust developments around the world.
Featured News
DirecTV and Disney Resolve Dispute, Restore Programming for Subscribers
Sep 15, 2024 by
CPI
UK Antitrust Authority Raises Concerns Over Vodafone-Three Merger
Sep 15, 2024 by
CPI
Brazilian Supreme Court Lifts Freeze on Starlink Accounts, Transfers $3.3 Million to National Treasury
Sep 15, 2024 by
CPI
Steptoe Expands Antitrust Practice with Key London Hire
Sep 15, 2024 by
CPI
Instant Ad Auctions at the Heart of Google’s Federal Monopoly Case
Sep 15, 2024 by
CPI
Antitrust Mix by CPI
Antitrust Chronicle® – Canada & Mexico
Sep 3, 2024 by
CPI
Competitive Convergence: Mexico’s 30-Year Quest for Antitrust Parity with its Northern Neighbor
Sep 3, 2024 by
Francisco Javier Núñez Melgoza
Competition and Digital Markets in North America: A Comparative Study of Antitrust Investigations in Mexico and the United States
Sep 3, 2024 by
Julio Garcia
Recent Antitrust Development in Mexico: COFECE’s Preliminary Report on Amazon and Mercado Libre
Sep 3, 2024 by
Alejandra Palacios Prieto
The Cost of Making COFECE Disappear
Sep 3, 2024 by
Mateo Fernández