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NEW YORK — Boosting its oncology portfolio, Pfizer Inc. plans to acquire biopharmaceutical company Medivation for $14 billion in cash.
Under the deal announced Monday, Pfizer is paying $81.50 a share in cash for San Francisco-based Medivation, whose products include XTANDI (enzalutamide), an androgen receptor inhibitor that the companies said is the nation’s leading novel hormone therapy.
Ian Read, Pfizer chairman and CEO
XTANDI generated about $2.2 billion in global net sales over the past four quarters, as recorded by Astellas Pharma Inc., with which Medivation entered an agreement in 2009 to develop XTANDI globally and commercialize jointly in the United States. Since its approval for advanced metastatic prostate cancer by the Food and Drug Administration in 2012, XTANDI has treated 64,000 U.S. men to date. Medivation and Astellas have built a development program for XTANDI that includes two Phase 3 studies in non-metastatic prostate cancer and another Phase 3 study in hormone-sensitive prostate cancer. The drug also is being further developed in Phase 2 studies for the potential treatment of advanced breast cancer and hepatocellular carcinoma.
“The addition of Medivation will strengthen Pfizer’s Innovative Health business and accelerate its pathway to a leadership position in oncology, one of our key focus areas, which we believe will drive greater growth and scale of that business over the long-term,” stated Ian Read, chairman and chief executive officer of Pfizer.
Pfizer noted that Medivation also has a promising late-stage oncology pipeline that includes two development-stage oncology assets, talazoparib and pidilizumab. Talazoparib, now in a Phase 3 study for the treatment of BRCA-mutated breast cancer, has the potential to be a highly potent PARP inhibitor and could be efficacious across several additional tumors, the company said. Pidilizumab is an immuno-oncology (IO) asset being developed for diffuse large B-cell lymphoma and other hematologic malignancies and could be combined with IO therapies in Pfizer’s portfolio.
“We believe the combination with Pfizer is the right next step in our growth trajectory and is a testament to the passion and dedication by which the Medivation team has delivered on our mission to profoundly transform patients’ lives through medically innovative therapies,” commented David Hung, founder, president and CEO of Medivation. “We believe that Pfizer is the ideal partner to extend the reach of our blockbuster XTANDI franchise and take our promising, late-stage assets — talazoparib and pidiluzimab — to their next stages of development so that they can be made available to patients as quickly as possible.”
According to the American Cancer Society, breast cancer and prostate cancer are among the top three cancers by annual incidence in the United States, Pfizer reported. In addition, breast and prostate cancer have some parallels, including the U.S. incidence of prostate cancer, which is similar to that of breast cancer, with about 280,000 cases per year.
“The proposed acquisition of Medivation will build upon Pfizer’s success with our IBRANCE (palbociclib) launch in HR+/HER2- metastatic breast cancer and with our strong immuno-oncology portfolio, and will transform Pfizer into a leading oncology company,” according to Albert Bourla, group president of Pfizer Innovative Health. “IBRANCE and XTANDI are anchor brands in breast and prostate cancer, respectively, giving Pfizer leadership in two hormone-driven cancers. Similar to IBRANCE in the breast cancer setting, XTANDI is being explored for its potential to move from metastatic prostate cancer to treat earlier stages of non-metastatic prostate cancer. In addition, Medivation’s portfolio within prostate cancer and across diverse tumors will complement Pfizer’s broad IO portfolio.”
Medivation, too, brings commercial scale to Pfizer so it can better compete with other top-tier oncology companies in advance of its IO pipeline expected in the next few years, Bourla added. “Together, we believe Pfizer and Medivation can bring the full force of our combined research and resources to combat two of the most common cancers, as well as speed cures and make accessible breakthrough medicines to patients, redefining life with cancer,” he stated.
The boards of directors of both companies have unanimously approved the merger. Pfizer said it expects to finalize the acquisition in the third or fourth quarter.
