Pfizer in talks to acquire biotech company Seagen: Report

Pfizer Inc is in talks to acquire Seagen, a biotech company, as per a report in The Wall Street Journal. A deal could help Pfizer, one of the biggest pharmaceutical firms globally, to add to its line-up of cancer treatments with a class of agents that have shown initial results against some of the most prevalent tumours. It could also help the New York-based pharmaceutical giant offset $17 billion in sales that it projects it could lose out due to patent expirations by 2030. The talks are in a preliminary stage and there is no guarantee that the deal will be finalised, people familiar with the matter told WSJ on condition of anonymity.

For Seagen, this is the second chance at a deal. The company had been in talks with Merck last year, but the $40 billion deal fell apart. Seagen is known for pioneering a class of cancer therapy called antibody-drug conjugates, which attack tumours with toxic agents like guided missiles.

Seagen is valued at about $30 billion and if the deal is finalised, it could lead to a big change in the pharmaceutical sector. The company’s therapies have been approved for cancers like Hodgkin’s as well as other lymphomas. More recently, the therapies have shown promise against other kinds of tumours (including a form of breast cancer) when applied in combination with immunotherapy.

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After the deal with Merck fell off the tracks, Seagen appointed former Novartis executive David Epstein as its chief executive. The company earned nearly $2 billion in sales last year.

Pfizer sees Seagen as a way to add to its chain of targeted cancer therapies. The acquisition of Seagen can also help the COVID vaccine maker, which earned $100 billion in sales last year, move closer to its target of adding $25 billion in revenue by the end of this decade from business-development moves. It also sees potential in the company’s breast cancer treatment, for which the pharma giant sells a drug called Ibrance.

But a number of hurdles still persist in the deal. Both parties would also have to face a stringent antitrust review of the proposed deal.

Pfizer has earned about $22.7 billion from sales of its COVID-19 vaccines, drugs and other products. The drug maker completed the acquisition of Biohaven Pharmaceutical Holdings Co. for over $10 billion and sickle cell drug maker Global Blood Therapeutics Inc. for more than $5 billion last year.

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