$5B Deal Talks Between Pfizer And Global Blood Therapeutics

(CTN News) – Pfizer Inc., the maker of a drug recently approved for sickle-cell disease, announced today that it is in advanced talks to buy Global Blood Therapeutics Inc., which makes a drug recently been approved for the treatment of sickle-cell anemia, for about $5 billion.

As part of its strategy to expand its portfolio and pipeline, the drug giant has announced the announcement of the latest deal.

It is understood that Pfizer intends to seal a deal for GBT in the coming days, according to people with direct knowledge of the matter.

There are still a number of suitors in the mix, some of the people stated, and the situation is still fluid. There will be an announcement of GBT’s second-quarter results on Monday.

Earlier this week, Bloomberg reported that the potential buyers of GBT were circling the company, without naming the parties involved in the deal.

The shares of the company jumped on the news, adding to their gains since the spring, which had resulted in earlier gains. At $47.99, they closed Thursday with a market value of just over $3 billion, which gives GBT a market cap of just over $3 billion.

Founded in 2011, GBT is a company that is located in South San Francisco, California.

By acquiring the company, Pfizer would expand its presence in the field of rare diseases by providing a drug that is already on the market for the treatment of sickle-cell disease, as well as two drugs in development that have had positive results in preliminary studies so far.

During the first quarter of 2014, sales of Pfizer Oxbryta, a commercial treatment approved in December, exceeded $55 million as a result of the treatment’s approval.

There are approximately 100,000 people in the United States who suffer from sickle-cell disease, which is an inherited blood disorder that affects about 1 in 13 Blacks in the country.

I think that Pfizer has been very interested in the sickle cell disease, but a drug that it had been developing failed in 2019. Another one is currently in the early stages of development by the company.

As a result of scientific progress in understanding the molecular roots of the disease, there have been a number of drugs that have been developed to treat the disease over the past few years.

There is a possibility that gene therapies in development could prove to be a serious competition for treatments like Oxbryta.

SEE ALSO:

Hong Kong Man Contracts Herpes Virus B After Monkey Bite