Pfizer has agreed to acquire Global Blood Therapeutics (GBT), a San Francisco, California-based bio/pharmaceutical company focused on sickle cell-disease, for $5.4 billion, including debt and net of cash acquired.

GBT’s lone commercial product is Oxbryta (voxelotor) for treating sickle-cell disease.  It was approved in the US in November 2019 and is also approved in the European Union, United Arab Emirates, Oman, and Great Britain. It had 2021 net sales of $195 million.

In its pipeline, key assets are inclacumab, in Phase III development, to address pain crises associated with sickle-cell disease, and GBT021601, a sickle hemoglobin polymerization inhibitor, in Phase II of Phase II/III trials. Both products have received orphan drug and rare pediatric disease designations from the US Food and Drug Administration.

If approved, Pfizer estimates that GBT’s pipeline and Oxbryta have the potential for a sickle-cell disease franchise that could achieve combined worldwide peak sales of more than $3 billion.

The proposed transaction is subject to customary closing conditions, including receipt of regulatory approvals and approval by GBT’s stockholders.

Source: Pfizer and Global Blood Therapeutics