Pfizer Augments Inflammation and Immunology Business with $6.7 Billion Buy
Alex Keown | 13 DEC 2021The share price of Arena Pharmaceuticals nearly doubled in premarket trading after pharma giant Pfizer announced it was acquiring the company and its diverse portfolio of developmental and clinical assets, including a late-stage ulcerative colitis treatment, in an all-cash deal valued at approximately $6.7 billion.
Pfizer will acquire outstanding shares of the company for $100 per share. Arena’s stock closed at $49.94 on Friday, and the share price has soared to $95.95 in premarket trading after the announcement was made.
Mike Gladstone, president and general manager of Pfizer’s Inflammation and Immunology division, said the acquisition of Arena would complement the company’s inflammation and immunology business. He said the Arena assets would provide hope for a better and more effective treatment for patients with debilitating immuno-inflammatory diseases.
Specifically, Pfizer is eying Utah-based Arena’s experimental Crohn’s treatment etrasimod, a highly selective, once-daily, oral sphingosine 1-phosphate (S1P) receptor modulator. Not only does etrasimod show potential in Crohn’s because of its design to provide systemic and local effects on specific immune cell types, but the experimental drug can also potentially treat multiple immune-mediated inflammatory diseases . . .
https://www.biospace.com/article/pfizer-to-acquire-arena-pharmaceuticals-and-lead-asset-etrasimod-in-6-7-billion-deal/
Pfizer buys a company that makes medications that treat the bad side-effects brought on by their Covid jab.
