Pfizer Inc. has agreed to buy Global Blood Therapeutics Inc., the maker of a drug for sickle-cell disease, in a deal worth $5.4 billion.
The New York drug giant will pay $68.50 for each outstanding share of Global Blood, the companies said Monday in a statement. That’s double the stock’s price on Aug. 3, when Bloomberg reported the company was drawing takeover interest. The total equity value of the deal excluding debt is about $4.6 billion, according to Bloomberg calculations.
Both boards unanimously approved the transaction. Pfizer will gain Oxbryta, South San Francisco-based Global Blood’s therapy for sickle-cell disease that sold about $195 million last year and the companies see as a potential blockbuster. Pfizer needs new products as concerns about the pandemic wane, threatening revenue from its top-selling COVID-19 vaccine and its pill to treat the disease, Paxlovid.
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