NEW YORK – Pfizer on Monday said it will acquire Seagen in a deal worth $43 billion, or $229 per Seagen share in cash — a move aimed at adding several oncology assets to its pipeline including the anti-HER2 therapy Tukysa (tucatinib).
Both companies' boards of directors have unanimously approved the transaction. Pfizer plans to finance the transaction with $31 billion of new, long-term debt, and cover the balance using a combination of short-term financing and existing cash. The companies expect to complete the acquisition in late 2023 or early 2024, subject to the fulfillment of customary closing conditions, including regulatory and stockholder approvals.
With the acquisition, Pfizer is gaining Tukysa and about a dozen other Seagen oncology assets, some approved and others in various stages of investigation. In releasing its Q4 2022 financials, Seagen estimated that it will generate between $2.14 billion and $2.24 billion in revenue this year. By 2030, Pfizer expects that Seagen could contribute more than $10 billion in risk-adjusted revenues, based on increasing sales of its approved medicines and regulatory approval of other pipeline candidates.
Seagen sells four approved oncology drugs including Tukysa as a treatment for advanced or metastatic HER2-positive breast cancer and for RAS wild-type, HER2-positive unresectable or metastatic colorectal cancer, a recently approved indication. The firm also markets Adcetris (brentuximab vedotin) for adult and pediatric Hodgkin lymphomas, and anaplastic large cell lymphoma or other CD30-expressing peripheral T-cell lymphomas; Padcev (enfortumab vedotin-ejfv) for advanced or metastatic urothelial cancer; and Tivdak (tisotumab vedotin-tftv) for recurrent or metastatic cervical cancer.
Seagen, based in Bothell, Washington, is evaluating its approved drugs as earlier lines of therapy and has several other oncology candidates in clinical development including disitamab vedotin in HER2-expressing urothelial cancer and ladiratuzumab vedotin in triple-negative breast cancer and other solid tumors.
"Together, Pfizer and Seagen seek to accelerate the next generation of cancer breakthroughs and bring new solutions to patients by combining the power of Seagen's antibody-drug conjugate technology with the scale and strength of Pfizer's capabilities and expertise," Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla said in a statement. "Oncology continues to be the largest growth driver in global medicine, and this acquisition will enhance Pfizer's position in this important space and contribute meaningfully to the achievement of Pfizer's near- and long-term financial goals."