Big pharma AbbVie’s $21 billion deal to acquire hot biotech Pharmacyclics was met with widespread skepticism by AbbVie investors Thursday, sending AbbVie’s stock down 4% in afternoon trading. AbbVie (ABBV) announced the cash-and-stock acquisition late Wednesday after rumors had been swirling all afternoon that Novartis (NVS) and Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) were engaged in a bidding war for Pharmacyclics (PCYC). It surprised Wall Street that AbbVie
AbbVie (ABBV) agreed late Wednesday to pay $21 billion to acquire Pharmacyclics (PCYC), maker of blockbuster blood cancer drug Imbruvica. AbbVie will pay $261.25 per share in cash and stock. That’s 13% above Pharmacyclics’ closing price on Wednesday. But the biotech closed up 6.3% to a record high Wednesday on buyout buzz — and that followed a 16.9% spike on Feb. 25 on previous takeover talk. AbbVie’s offer is 39% above Pharmacyclics’ stock as of
Stocks in the hepatitis C field were down Wednesday in the wake of Gilead Sciences’ (GILD) cautious forecast while potential competitor Merck hit an FDA setback. Gilead stock plunged more than 9% in early trading as multiple analysts cut their price targets in the wake of its 2015 guidance, along with comments that pointed to a high rate of discounting for Sovaldi and Harvoni to compete with AbbVie’s (ABBV) newly launched Viekira Pak. In midday