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AbbVie is buying biotech Apogee Therapeutics in a $10.9bn deal, strengthening its pipeline for immunology and inflammation medicines.
As part of the deal, Apogee’s shareholders will receive $135.11 a share in cash, a 49 per cent premium to the biotech’s closing price on Thursday, AbbVie said in a statement on Monday.
Apogee’s shares rose 47 per cent to $132.70 in early New York trading while AbbVie rose 4.5 per cent to $226.22.
The acquisition, AbbVie’s largest in more than half a decade, confirms an earlier FT report that a deal was near. It comes amid a wave of biotech dealmaking as Big Pharma spends big to boost its pipelines of experimental medicines.
Chicago-based AbbVie is acquiring Apogee’s developmental drug for atopic dermatitis, which is an itchy skin condition affecting more than 200mn people globally. Apogee’s lead drug, zumilokibart, offers a longer-acting alternative to the blockbuster inflammatory medicine Dupixent, co-developed by Sanofi and Regeneron, which generated $17.8bn in revenue last year.
Similar to Dupixent, zumilokibart has the potential to be used against a wide range of inflammatory diseases such as atopic dermatitis and asthma. Apogee plans to start a phase-three trial for zumilokibart as a treatment for atopic dermatitis later this year.
AbbVie’s Humira, used to treat a host of inflammatory diseases, including rheumatoid arthritis and psoriasis, is the best-selling prescription drug in history.
AbbVie has migrated Humira patients to two newer immunology drugs, Skyrizi and Rinvoq, amid rising competition after its patent on the blockbuster drug expired.
“For more than two decades, AbbVie has led and shaped the field of immunology, bringing the science, scale and expertise needed to address some of the most complex diseases,” AbbVie chief executive Robert Michael said in a statement. “Apogee’s pipeline adds highly differentiated clinical-stage assets, further expanding our robust immunology portfolio.”
More than $200bn of healthcare acquisitions have been agreed so far in the sector this year, according to LSEG. Large pharmaceutical companies, facing looming patent expirations, are aggressively pursuing small and midsized biotechs for their new drugs.
“There remains a fundamental need for small and mid-cap biotech M&A, which is driven by the patent expirations that the large-cap biopharma companies are expected to face at the end of this decade,” Morgan Stanley said in a recent report.
Massachusetts-based Apogee was founded by biotech venture capital firms Venrock and Fairmount in 2022. Last month, it struck a $1.3bn financing and royalty deal with Blackstone to fund the development and launch of zumilokibart, but the agreement left open the possibility for Apogee to sell itself.
Shares in Apogee, which went public in 2023, have more than doubled in price over the past year. Shares in AbbVie, which has a market capitalisation of about $382bn, have risen almost a third over the same period.
The group has historically been one of the most active pharmaceutical acquirers. In 2024, AbbVie struck a $10.1bn deal for oncology biotech Immunogen as well as an $8.7bn deal for psychiatric drug developer Cerevel Therapeutics, whose lead drug has since flopped in clinical trials. In 2019, it bought Botox maker Allergan in an $80bn deal.
Apogee “fits naturally” with AbbVie and “reflects [a] desire to pursue longer dosing interval treatment in inflammatory disease,” Evan Seigerman, an analyst at BMO Capital Markets said in a report on Friday.
AbbVie was advised by Morgan Stanley and Paul Weiss. Apogee was represented by Jefferies, Goldman Sachs and Kirkland & Ellis.
Source:
www.ft.com
