Alexion splurges in Sweden in bid to build up pipeline

12 April 2018

Alexion Pharmaceuticals (Nasdaq: ALXN) has offered 7.1 billion Swedish kronor ($855 million) to buy Stockholm-based Wilson Therapeutics (STO: WTX), by way of a tender offer.

The independent committee of the Wilson board has unanimously recommended to shareholders that they accept the offer, and the transaction is expected to close in the next couple of months.

The second major M&A deal in pharma this week, Alexion will hope that the money will go a lot further than the $8.4 billion it paid for Synageva BioPharma at the peak of the biotech boom in 2015. Investors subsequently criticized the move, after high hopes for lead product Kanuma (sebelipase alfa) failed to materialize.

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