Pfizer acquires Medivation and with it oncology assets

Pfizer Inc. and Medivation, Inc. have announced that they have entered into a definitive merger agreement under which Pfizer will acquire Medivation, a biopharmaceutical company focused on developing and commercializing small molecules for oncology, for $81.50 a share in cash for a total enterprise value of approximately $14 billion. The Boards of Directors of both companies have unanimously approved the merger, which is expected to be immediately accretive to Pfizer's Adjusted Diluted EPS upon closing, approximately $0.05 accretive in the first full year after close with additional accretion and growth anticipated thereafter. Pfizer does not expect the transaction to impact its current 2016 financial guidance. Medivation's portfolio includes Xtandi (enzalutamide), an androgen receptor inhibitor that blocks multiple steps in the androgen receptor signaling pathway within the tumor cell. Xtandi is the leading novel hormone therapy in the United States and generated approximately $2.2 billion in worldwide net sales over the past four quarters, as recorded by Astellas Pharma Inc., with whom Medivation entered an agreement in 2009 to develop Xtandi globally and commercialize jointly in the U.S. Since its approval for advanced metastatic prostate cancer by the FDA in 2012. Medivation and Astellas have built a robust development program for Xtandi, including two Phase III studies in non-metastatic prostate cancer and another Phase III study in hormone-sensitive prostate cancer. It is also being further developed in Phase II studies for the potential treatment of advanced breast cancer and hepatocellular carcinoma.In addition, Medivation has a promising, wholly-owned, late-stage oncology pipeline, which includes two development-stage oncology assets, talazoparib and pidilizumab. Talazoparib, currently in a Phase III study for the treatment of BRCA-mutated breast cancer, has the potential to be a highly potent PARP inhibitor and could be efficacious across several additional tumors. Pidilizumab is an immuno-oncology (IO) asset being developed for diffuse large B-cell lymphoma and other hematologic malignancies and has the potential to be combined with IO therapies in Pfizer's portfolio. The proposed acquisition of Medivation will build upon Pfizer's success with Ibrance (palbociclib) launch in HR+/HER2- metastatic breast cancer and with its strong immuno-oncology portfolio, and will transform Pfizer into a leading oncology company.