Pfizer Inc. has agreed to pay $5.4 billion for Global Blood Therapeutics Inc., the manufacturer of a sickle-cell disease medication.
The New York-based pharmaceutical company will pay $68.50 per share for all outstanding shares of Global Blood, the firms said Monday before US markets opened. That’s double the stock’s price on Aug. 3, when Bloomberg reported the corporation was attracting acquisition interest.
The deal was approved unanimously by both boards. Pfizer will acquire Oxbryta, Global Blood’s medication for sickle cell illness, which sold around $195 million last year and is regarded as a potential blockbuster by the businesses. Pfizer requires new goods as fears about the pandemic fade, endangering earnings from its top-selling Covid-19 vaccine and Paxlovid, a disease-treating tablet, analysists said.
Sickle-cell disease is a lifelong, painful genetic blood illness that affects millions of individuals globally, mostly in African, Middle Eastern, and South Asian communities. The Global Blood medication was authorized in the United States in November 2019, and it is also approved in the European Union and other nations.
