Gilead Sciences makes fourth, and biggest, acquisition this year

14 September 2020

US biotech major Gilead Sciences (Nasdaq: GILD) on Sunday announced that it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire antibody-drug conjugate (ADC) specialist Immunomedics (Nasdaq: IMMU) for $88.00 per share in cash, more than double the $42.25 closing price on Friday, and with the news sending the latter’s shares of 107% to $87.49 in pre-market trading today.

The transaction, which values Immunomedics at around $21 billion, was unanimously approved by both the Gilead and Immunomedics boards of directors and is anticipated to close during the fourth quarter of 2020.

This is the fourth company acquisition this year for Gilead, which bought a 49.9% stake in cancer drug developer Pionyr Immunotherapeutics in June for $275 million, paid $4.9 billion in April for Forty Seven, a maker of an experimental treatment that targets blood cancer, and in July bidding $300 million for a 49.9% stake in cancer immunotherapies developer Tizona Therapeutics, with an option to buy the remainder of the company for up to $1.25 billion.

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