After French pharmaceutical company Sanofi withdrew its offer, Amgen Inc (AMGN.O) is now planning to acquire Horizon Therapeutics Plc (HZNP.O) for about $26 billion, making it the company’s largest acquisition to date, according to Bloomberg News on Monday.
The report quotes a person familiar with the situation as saying that the American biotechnology company has proposed paying about $116.5 for each share of Horizon. The offer is at a price that is about 20% higher than Horizon’s Friday closing price of $97.29.
On Sunday, Sanofi (SASY.PA) announced that it would no longer be making an offer for Horizon. According to Sanofi, the transaction price expectations “do not meet our value creation criteria.”
Last week, Janssen withdrew from the competition as well, declaring that it has no plans to make an offer for Horizon, leaving Amgen as the front-runner.
With a market value of about $22 billion, Amgen Inc. (AMGN.O), Sanofi, and Johnson & Johnson’s Janssen Global Services unit (JNJ.N) have all been active deal-makers this year. Last month, Horizon announced that it was in talks with all three of these companies.
Amgen would gain access to Ireland-based Horizon’s drug pipeline as a result of the acquisition, including Tepezza, a top-selling medication used to treat thyroid eye disease, and Krystexxa, the company’s second-largest drug used to treat gout that is resistant to other treatments.
Tepezza’s peak annual global sales are expected to reach over $4 billion, and Krystexxa’s peak annual U.S. sales are expected to reach over $1.5 billion, according to Horizon.