Pfizer to Buy Esperion for $1.3 Billion
Sunday December 21, 1:50 pm ET
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE - News) said on Sunday that it agreed to buy Esperion (NasdaqNM:ESPR - News) for roughly $1.3 billion to gain control of Esperion's promising drug that raises "good" cholesterol.
The drug, which has completed midstage clinical trials, is the only medicine ever shown to reverse clogging of the heart arteries.
Pfizer said it will buy Esperion for $1.3 billion in cash, or $35 per share, subject to certain conditions. Pfizer said the price represents a 54 percent premium over Esperion's average closing share price during the last 20 trading days.
"By acquiring Esperion, we can bring our research capabilities to bear on an emerging new area which has potentially significant beneficial impact on patients," said Hank McKinnell, Pfizer's chairman and CEO, in a statement.
Pfizer already owns Lipitor, a $10 billion a year drug that is a member of the statin family of cholesterol lowering agents, which works by lowering "bad" LDL cholesterol. Esperion's drug, by contrast, mimics "good" HDL cholesterol.
In the Phase II trial the Esperion drug reduced build up of fatty plaque in arteries by over 4 percent in patients, who were given weekly injections of the experimental medicine over a course of only five weeks.
Pfizer already had an option to co-market the medicine, which it obtained through its recent merger with Pharmacia Corp.
Esperion shares closed at $22.70 Friday on Nasdaq. Pfizer, which is traded on the New York Stock Exchange (News - Websites) , closed Friday at $34.27 |
