Pfizer Reportedly Nears $14 Bln Deal To Acquire Medivation

(RTTNews) - Drug giant Pfizer Inc. (PFE) is close to an agreement to buy Medivation Inc. (MDVN), the developer of blockbuster prostate-cancer drug Xtandi, for about $14 billion, Financial Times reported citing people familiar with the matter. The proposed deal, which may be announced as early as Monday, would give a boost to Pfizer's portfolio, which has been seeking to expand its lineup of oncology treatments.

Medivation's shares had closed at $67.16 on Friday, down 0.04 percent, giving it a market value of $11.14 billion.

The deal, if agreed upon, would end months of bidding for San Francisco-based Medivation, which has been one of the most desired independent biotechs due to its blockbuster drug.

French drug company Sanofi SA had made an unsolicited proposal, which the biotech rejected in April, saying the offer substantially undervalued the company. A successful deal with Pfizer would give Medivation more than double the $6 billion it was valued earlier in the year.

Gilead Sciences Inc., Celgene Corp. and Amgen Inc. were among the other drugmakers reported to consider the deal.

Medivation's drug Xtandi is already approved for sale in the U.S. and elsewhere, and generates about $2 billion in yearly sales and is said to have the potential to more than double.

Meanwhile, Pfizer will have to split U.S. sales of Xtandi, with Tokyo-based Astellas Pharma Inc., which partnered with Medivation on the drug. According to EvaluatePharma, Xtandi could be one of the top-selling cancer drugs by 2020. Meanwhile, Xtandi has a rival in prostate-cancer treatment from Johnson & Johnson called Zytiga.

As per reports, Xtandi would complement Pfizer's breast-cancer treatment Ibrance, which is on track to be a blockbuster.

Earlier, Pfizer CEO Ian Read had said that he was more interested in buying late-stage drugs as the firm already had plenty of early-stage drugs in the development.

Medivation's other drugs in development would also complement Pfizer's efforts to develop combinations of cancer agents with so-called immunotherapies. Medivation has two experimental products: a drug for breast cancer, and another for the blood cancer lymphoma.

Pfizer is getting ready to decide by year's end whether to split into two, with one company selling fast-growing brand-name drugs like Ibrance and another selling drugs that have lost patent protection. It was expected earlier that Pfizer would split following its proposed takeover of Allergan PLC in a $150 billion deal, but that failed.