Bristol Myers Squibb said Tuesday it would acquire cancer drug developer RayzeBio in a deal valued at $4.1 billion. RYZB stock soared 100% on the news while BMY stock traded slightly lower.
Bristol Myers will pay $62.50 per share for RayzeBio, a 104% premium to the company's Friday closing price of $30.57.
On the stock market today, RYZB stock gained 100.8% to close at 61.40. Meanwhile, BMY stock slipped 1.6% to 51.45.
BMY Stock: Two Acquisitions In Past Week
RayzeBio completed an initial public offering in September. The San Diego-based company is a clinical-stage developer of radiopharmaceutical therapeutics. Its current pipeline includes programs targeting the treatment of solid tumors, small cell lung cancer and hepatocellular carcinoma. That includes a Phase 3 trial for a rare type of pancreatic tumor, according to the Bristol Myers' news release.
"Acquiring RayzeBio's differentiated actinium-based radiopharmaceutical platform will establish Bristol Myers Squibb's presence in one of the most promising and fastest-growing new modalities for the treatment of patients with solid tumors — delivering radioactive payloads to cancer cells in a targeted manner," Samit Hirawat, Bristol Myers' chief medical officer, drug development, said in a news release.
Bristol Myers said it expects to close the deal in the first half of next year.
Meanwhile, this is the second major acquisition by Bristol Myers in the past week. On Friday, the company announced a $14 billion acquisition of Karuna Therapeutics. Karuna is developing a drug for the treatment of schizophrenia.
BMY stock was down 27% this year entering trading Tuesday. RYZB stock, meanwhile, had already gained about 70% from its offer price in September before shares soared on news of the deal Tuesday.
Elsewhere in biotech news Tuesday, pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca announced a deal to buy China-based cell therapy company Gracell Biotechnologies for $1.2 billion. GRCL stock soared by more than 60% to 9.92, while AZN gained a fraction to 66.50.
