GSK Plc agreed to buy Canadian biotech Bellus Health Inc. for about $2 billion to bolster its pipeline of experimental medicines.
The UK drugmaker will pay $14.75 per share in cash for Bellus, a 103% premium to the stock’s Monday close, it said in a statement Tuesday.
The takeover will bring GSK a cough medicine that’s shown promising results in clinical trials and has advanced through much of the research process. GSK has been trying to replenish its product pipeline as the company faces pressure to improve shareholder returns and keep up with UK rival AstraZeneca Plc.
The announcement comes two days after Merck & Co. agreed to buy Prometheus Biosciences Inc. for about $10.8 billion, pointing to a deal resurgence as large drugmakers target biotechs to gain new products to replace aging best-sellers.
GSK shares were little changed in early London trading.
The drugmaker split from its consumer arm last year, listing that unit separately, to focus on the pharma and vaccines business. It’s under pressure to find blockbuster products to offset others going off patent, such as the HIV drug dolutegravir, which will lose its exclusivity towards the end of the decade.
Bellus’s experimental cough medicine, called camlipixant, will probably launch in 2026 and the transaction will likely start boosting earnings per share in 2027, according to GSK.Persistent Cough
The UK drugmaker will pay $14.75 per share in cash for Bellus, a 103% premium to the stock’s Monday close, it said in a statement Tuesday.
The takeover will bring GSK a cough medicine that’s shown promising results in clinical trials and has advanced through much of the research process. GSK has been trying to replenish its product pipeline as the company faces pressure to improve shareholder returns and keep up with UK rival AstraZeneca Plc.
The announcement comes two days after Merck & Co. agreed to buy Prometheus Biosciences Inc. for about $10.8 billion, pointing to a deal resurgence as large drugmakers target biotechs to gain new products to replace aging best-sellers.
GSK shares were little changed in early London trading.
The drugmaker split from its consumer arm last year, listing that unit separately, to focus on the pharma and vaccines business. It’s under pressure to find blockbuster products to offset others going off patent, such as the HIV drug dolutegravir, which will lose its exclusivity towards the end of the decade.
Bellus’s experimental cough medicine, called camlipixant, will probably launch in 2026 and the transaction will likely start boosting earnings per share in 2027, according to GSK.
Persistent Cough
About 28 million patients worldwide suffer from refractory chronic cough, which camlipixant targets. The disease is marked by a persistent cough that lasts for more than eight weeks, doesn’t respond to treatment for an underlying condition or remains unexplained. The Bellus medicine could “be a best-in-class treatment with significant sales potential,” said Luke Miels, GSK’s chief commercial officer.
Bellus’s board has backed the deal and the companies said the transaction will probably close in the third quarter.
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