Amgen to buy Horizon Therapeutics in $26.4-billion deal
Amgen is spending more than $26 billion to dive deeper into rare-disease treatments with the acquisition of drugmaker Horizon Therapeutics.
The biotech drug developer said Monday that it will pay $116.50 in cash for each share of Horizon, which makes a treatment for thyroid eye disease that generated more than $1 billion in its first full year on the market.
The deal offers Amgen another chance to build its portfolio of rare-disease treatments after it closed in October a roughly $3.7-billion acquisition of ChemoCentryx, which focuses on autoimmune disease drugs.
Horizon Therapeutics, based in Dublin, Ireland, develops potential treatments for rare, autoimmune and severe-inflammatory diseases. Its best-seller, Tepezza, is only approved in the United States and treats eye bulging and double vision from thyroid eye disease.
U.S. regulators approved Tepezza in early 2020 as the first treatment for thyroid eye disease. The drug’s sales more than doubled last year to $1.67 billion. That’s about half of the company’s total sales of $3.23 billion.
An experimental decoy drug that’s designed to lure the coronavirus away from cells is being readied for tests in humans.
Amgen executives told analysts on a Monday morning conference call that they intend to expand the drug’s use globally. Scientists also are working to develop and easier-to-use injectable version of the drug, which is given by IV.
Amgen Chairman and Chief Executive Robert Bradway said the deal gives his company a “strong platform” to expand into rare-disease treatments, with many Horizon drugs still early in their life cycle.
Horizon also makes Krystexxa for uncontrolled gout. Sales of that treatment grew 39% last year to $565.5 million. Amgen officials said they expect that their company’s long-standing history of working with rheumatologists will help that treatment’s sales grow.
Horizon also has a pipeline of additional potential treatments in mid-stage clinical testing and a possible therapy for the autoimmune disease myasthenia gravis in late-stage testing.
Amgen is facing competition for some of its key products such as its autoimmune disease treatment Enbrel, so a Horizon takeover makes strategic sense, Mizuho Securities USA analyst Salim Syed said in a research note. He also said Horizon’s presence in Ireland, which has lower corporate tax rates than the United States, could help Amgen cut its tax bill.
An FDA panel recommends that a drug approved to prevent premature birth be removed from the market because it doesn’t work and carries risks.
Horizon said late last month that it had started “highly preliminary discussions” about an acquisition with three potential suitors: Amgen, the French drugmaker Sanofi, and Johnson & Johnson’s Janssen division.
The deal laid out Monday represents a premium of 48% to Horizon’s closing price of $78.76 before it made that late-November announcement.
Amgen said it expects the deal, which has an enterprise value of about $28.3 billion, to close in the first half of next year.
Horizon’s stock price jumped more than 14% on Monday. It had already soared about 30% since the late November announcement.
Shares of Amgen, based in Thousand Oaks, fell about 1%, while broader indexes climbed slightly.
Inside the business of entertainment
The Wide Shot brings you news, analysis and insights on everything from streaming wars to production — and what it all means for the future.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.
