(Reuters) – Drugmaker AbbVie said it will buy Pharmacyclics, the maker of blockbuster cancer drugImbruvica, for about $21 billion to boost its oncology drugs pipeline.
AbbVie (ABBV) will pay $261.25 per share in cash and stock, a 13% premium to Pharmacyclics stock’s closing price on Wednesday on the Nasdaq.
The deal will consist of about 58% cash and 42% AbbVie common stock. Pharmacyclics (PCYC) stockholders can elect cash, AbbVie stock or a combination, subject to proration, the company said in a statement.
“Imbruvica is not only complementary to AbbVie’s oncology pipeline, it has demonstrated strong clinical efficacy across a broad range of hematologic malignancies,” AbbVie’s Chief Executive, Richard Gonzalez, said in a statement.
Sales of Imbruvica, which has U.S. approvals for four forms of blood cancer, are expected to touch $1 billion in the United States this year, Pharmacyclics has said earlier.
AbbVie said it expects to fund the transaction through a combination of existing cash, new debt and stock.
