Pfizer to buy blood cancer drugmaker for $2.3bn
Pfizer has announced it will buy all the shares of Trillium Therapeutics, an oncology biotech, for $2.3bn (£1.7bn), as the pharmaceutical invests in blood cancer therapies.
The US drugmaker, which acquired a $25m stake in the Canadian oncology biotech last year, has agreed to purchase the remaining shares at $18.50 per share, representing a 203.8 per cent premium on the stock’s closing price.
Trillium shares were up almost 200 per cent in pre-market trading after the deal was announced while Pfizer’s shares rose almost four per cent.
The pharmaceutical company, made a household name since the pandemic, hopes to benefit from the biotech’s blood-cancer therapies which target a “don’t eat me” signal used by cancel cells to hide from the immune system.
Over a million people globally were diagnosed with blood cancer in 2020, representing almost 6 per cent of all cancer diagnoses while more than 700,000 people died from a form of blood cancer in 2020.
“The proposed acquisition of Trillium builds on our strong track record of leadership in Oncology, enhancing our hematology portfolio as we strive to improve outcomes for people living with blood cancers around the globe,” said Andy Schmeltz, global president & general manager of Pfizer Oncology.