
© Reuters. GSK brand is seen on this illustration taken on January 17, 2022. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration
(Reuters) -Britain’s GlaxoSmithKline (NYSE:) has agreed to purchase California-based biopharmaceutical firm Sierra Oncology (NASDAQ:) in a money deal valued at $1.9 billion, the businesses stated on Wednesday, because it seeks to bolster its blood most cancers enterprise.
Shareholders in Sierra, which focuses on focused therapies for the remedy of uncommon types of most cancers, will obtain $55 per share of frequent inventory in money, GSK stated.
That is a 39% premium to Tuesday’s closing worth and about two thirds greater than the volume-weighted common worth (VWAP) during the last 30 buying and selling days, it stated.
The deal comes as Sierra prepares to use within the second quarter for U.S. advertising approval for its experimental drug momelotinib, used to deal with anaemic sufferers with a sort of bone marrow most cancers.
Information from a late-stage scientific trial confirmed in January it was profitable in lowering illness signs and in addition reduce sufferers’ dependence on blood transfusions.
The acquisition will complement GSK’s a number of myeloma remedy, Blenrep, GSK stated. Myeloma is a sort of blood most cancers that develops from cells within the bone marrow referred to as plasma cells.