Pfizer has moved closer to closing its $14-billion acquisition of Medivation, a San Francisco-based biopharmaceutical company with the expiration of the waiting period under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act of 1976, as amended. The closing of the tender offer remains subject to other customary closing conditions, including the tender of a majority of the outstanding shares of Medivation common stock.

Pfizer agreed to acquire Medivation in August 2016 for $81.50 a share in cash or approximately $14 billion.

Medivation is focused on developing small molecules for oncology. Medivation has a late-stage oncology pipeline, which includes two development-stage oncology assets, talazoparib and pidilizumab. Talazoparib is currently in a Phase III study for breast cancer gene (BRCA)-mutated breast cancer. Pidilizumab is an immuno-oncology (IO) asset being developed for diffuse large B-cell lymphoma and other hematologic malignancies. It has the potential to be combined with IO therapies in Pfizer’s portfolio.

Medivation’s portfolio includes Xtandi (enzalutamide), an androgen receptor inhibitor for treating prostate cancer that was approved by the US Food and Drug Administration in 2012 for treating advanced metastatic prostate cancer. Xtandi generated approximately $2.2 billion in global net sales in 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 US.

In seeking to acquire Medivation, Pfizer won out over efforts by Sanofi, which was also interested in acquiring the company. Sanofi first made a bid to acquire Medivation in late April 2016 and again in early May 2016, with an initial offer of $9.3 billion, which was rejected by Medivation. Sanofi then took the strategy of seeking to replace the Medivation board in a hostile takeover bid but later increased its offer for Medivation to approximately $10 billion in July 2016 and was advised by Medivation it would be one of the companies considered in an acquisition bid.

Source: Pfizer