AstraZeneca Buys Fusion for Up to $2.4 Billion — Update

By Ian Walker

AstraZeneca is buying Fusion Pharmaceuticals for up to $2.4 billion as part of a plan to accelerate the development of next-generation cancer treatments, and marking the latest in an acquisition spree by the company.

The deal follows a number of other recent billion-figure takeovers from AstraZeneca and comes at a time of intense merger-and-acquisition activity in the pharmaceutical industry, which has seen big companies snapping up smaller biotechnology businesses.

The Anglo-Swedish pharmaceutical heavyweight said Tuesday that it will pay an initial $21 a share for Fusion, with an extra $3 nontransferable contingent value right upon a specified regulatory milestone being reached.

The initial price is a 97% premium to Fusion's closing market price of $10.64 on Monday.

Fusion had cash, cash equivalents and short term investments of $234 million as of Dec. 31.

The deal for Fusion, a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company developing next-generation radioconjugates delivering a radioactive isotope directly to cancer cells, is expected to close in the second quarter of this year. It is subject to customary closing conditions, including the approval of Fusion shareholders and regulatory clearances.

Last week, AstraZeneca said that it was buying Amolyt Pharma for up to $1.05 billion, expanding its late-stage studies rare-disease pipeline.

In December, it agreed to acquire Gracell Biotechnologies for $1.2 billion and Icosavax for $1.1 billion. It also acquired last year a gene therapy portfolio from its competitor Pfizer for up to $1 billion.

Write to Ian Walker at ian.walker@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

March 19, 2024 03:58 ET (07:58 GMT)

Copyright (c) 2024 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.