Pfizer Expects to Close Medivation Buyout in 3Q

NEW YORK (AP) —

Pfizer expects to complete its $14 billion buyout of cancer-drug developer Medivation in the third quarter following the expiration of a regulatory waiting period.

The New York drugmaker has agreed to pay $81.50 per Medivation share, which marked a 21-percent premium to San Francisco-based Medivation’s closing price when it was announced in August.

The acquisition will stock Pfizer’s product portfolio with leading treatments for the most common cancers in men and women by adding Medivation’s pricey prostate-cancer treatment Xtandi to a lineup that already includes a women’s cancer drug, Ibrance.

Medivation focuses on developing medicines for cancer and serious diseases with few treatment options. Pfizer is better known for mass-market drugs, including the cholesterol drug Lipitor.

Xtandi is Medivation’s key revenue driver, bringing in $943 million in 2015. But the drug has drawn attention for its $129,000-a-year list price.

Pfizer Inc. says Medivation also has a promising pipeline of cancer drugs in late-stage clinical development. That includes a possible cancer treatment talazoparib, as well as a potential lymphoma drug. Researchers also are studying Xtandi as a possible treatment for earlier-stage prostate cancers.

In trading Friday afternoon, Medivation Inc. shares rose 35 cents to $81.43, while Pfizer shares rose 15 cents to $34.30.

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