Brtistol-Myers Squibb, acquires Celgene for $90bn to create Oncology leader

 

Britsol-Myers Squibb, the US drugmaker has created one of the largest pharmaceutical deals in history by agreeing to buy Celgene in a cash- and-stock d3eal valuing the rival drugmaker at about $90bn including debt.

This latest deal would create a world leader in oncology, with nine drugs that each generate more than $1bn in annual sales as well as pipeline of treatments in early stage developments  with  a revenue potential of $15bn.

The deal put emphasis on the growing trends of big pharma turning to bio-techs to replenish drug pipelines. This strengthens Bristol-Myers Squibb’s pipeline as it faces strong competition to one of its leading immunotheraphy cancer assets, Opdivo, from Merck’s Ketruga among others.

Dr. Giovanni Caforio, CEO of Bristol-Myers Squibb Belgium NV/SA said it had done really good due diligence on the pipeline of Celgene. We feel really comfortable in the quality of the assets, the depth and breath of the opportunities, so we feel really good about what we are acquiring.”

“When one looks broadly at cancer immunotherapy, there are four big areas, he argued : drugs like Opdivo and Keytruda; medicines like Bristol’s Yervoy, medicines that make use of a protein called IL-2, such as on Bristol licensed from Nektar, and cell therapies such as the ones it just acquired in its Celgene buy”.