Astellas Pharma
said Monday that it agreed to acquire Iveric Bio for around $5.9 billion. It’s the largest ever acquisition for Japan’s Astellas, underlining competition for acquisitions in growth areas such as ophthalmology.
Biopharmaceuticals have been a relatively busy area for deals this year compared with a general slowdown in mergers and acquisitions in the U.S.
Astellas
(ticker: 4503.Japan) said
Iveric
(ISEE) has promising programs and capabilities in the field of ophthalmology, including a potential treatment for geographic atrophy, an advanced form of age-related macular degeneration.
Astellas also said the deal would provide future revenue which would help compensate for the expected decline in sales of its Xtandi prostate-cancer drug later this decade, due to the expiration of its patent.
Astellas said it would pay $40 a share for Iveric. Shares in Iveric were up 18% at $38.79 in premarket trading on Monday. Astellas shares closed up 2.2% in Japan.
“The opportunity to create a world-class entity with the ophthalmology expertise and capabilities of Iveric Bio and the global reach and resources of Astellas is unique and has the potential to benefit patients worldwide suffering from blinding retinal diseases,” Iveric President Pravin Dugel said in a joint statement from the companies.
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