Bristol Myers strikes $4.1 bln RayzeBio deal for targeted cancer therapies

New Delhi: Bristol Myers Squibb said on Tuesday it would buy RayzeBio for about $4.1 billion to bolster its cancer drug business, marking the second multi-billion dollar deal struck by the drugmaker in less than a week.

With the RayzeBio deal, Bristol gains a late-stage targeted cancer therapy that uses radioactive particles to kill tumor cells. The drug, called RYZ101 by RayzeBio, is being tested in late-stage studies for a rare type of pancreatic cancer.

Bristol Myers had also announced a $14 billion buyout of schizophrenia drug developer Karuna Therapeutics on Friday, nearly two months after newly-appointed CEO Chris Boerner officially took the helm at the drugmaker.

Both deals come as sales of Bristol Myers' top drugs, blood cancer treatment Revlimid and blood thinner Eliquis, take a hit from generic competition while other older therapies face impending loss of patent protection later this decade.

The RayzeBio acquisition "further strengthens our growth opportunities in the back half of the decade and beyond," Boerner said.

Bristol also gains access to RayzeBio's manufacturing site in Indianapolis, Indiana for radio-pharmaceutical compounds, which is currently under construction.

Bristol said it will pay $62.50 for each share of RayzeBio in cash, representing a premium of 104 per cent to the stock's last close. RayzeBio shares doubled to $60.95 in premarket trading.

Radiopharmaceutical therapies are a class of cancer treatments that use a combination of molecules which attach themselves to tumors and radioactive particles that kill the specific cells.

Eli Lilly in October struck a $1.4 billion deal to buy radiopharmaceutical firm Point Biopharma.

Bristol's acquisition of RayzeBio is one among a number of deals announced recently in the biotech sector.

AbbVie recently struck two multi-billion dollar deals to buy drug developer Cerevel Therapeutics for $8.7 billion and cancer drug maker ImmunoGen for $10 billion.