Pfizer enters talks to buy Seagen for over $30 billion, says report

Deal will help the firm add to its line-up of cancer treatments

Pfizer is in talks to acquire biotech Seagen according to people familiar with the matter, the latest potential deal for a big drug company aimed at adding a promising class of targeted cancer therapies, The Wall Street Journal reported.

The talks are at an early stage and there is no guarantee there will be a deal, the people said. A number of hurdles would need to be overcome, including the potential for a stringent antitrust review of any proposal.  If there is a deal, it would be big: Seagen has a market value of some $30 billion and would be expected to command a premium over that.

A deal would help Pfizer, one of the world’s biggest pharmaceutical firms with $100 billion in sales last year, add to its line-up of cancer treatments a class of agents that have shown promise working with so-called immunotherapies against some of the most prevalent tumors.

It could also help Pfizer offset $17 billion in sales that the company projects it could lose due to patent expirations by 2030. 

Pfizer has set a goal of adding $25 billion in revenue by the end of the decade from business-development moves including acquisitions. Seagen had nearly $2 billion in sales last year.

Seagen was in advanced talks last year to be acquired by Merck Co, in a deal that would have been worth $40 billion or more, The Wall Street Journal reported at the time, but the two sides failed to reach agreement. Pfizer at the time was also looking at Seagen, people familiar with the matter have said. After talks with Merck fell apart last year, Seagen named David Epstein, a former Novartis executive who more recently was a partner at venture firm Flagship Pioneering, as chief executive.

Last year, Pfizer acquired sickle-cell-drug maker Global Blood Therapeutics for more than $5 billion and the rest of Biohaven Pharmaceutical Holdings for over $10 billion.