Dec 12, 2022 - Economy

Amgen agrees to year's largest pharma acquisition with Horizon buy

Dan Primack

Photo: Jakub Porzycki/NurPhoto via Getty Images.

Amgen on Monday said that it's agreed to buy rare disease drugmaker Horizon Therapeutics for $27.8 billion in cash.

Why it matters: This is the year's largest pharma merger. It's also the richest acquisition ever for Amgen, which gets access to blockbuster thyroid eye disease drug Tepezza.

Details: Amgen will pay $116.50 per Horizon share.

That's nearly a 20% premium to Horizon's closing price last Friday, and a 47.9% premium to Horizon's price before announcing on Nov. 29 it had received takeover approaches from Amgen, J&J and Sanofi.

More, from STAT News: "Tepezza's story is characteristic of those of treatments for ultra-rare diseases. Because of both advancements in science and the willingness of insurers and governments to pay for the new drugs, they have become among the most profitable bets in the drug business."

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Amgen agrees to year's largest pharma acquisition with Horizon buy

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