Pharmaceutical giant Pfizer Inc. (NYSE: PFE) on Thursday closed its $43 billion acquisition of Bothell-based biotech company Seagen.
The companies first announced the acquisition in March, and Seagen shareholders in May approved the deal. The purchase boosts Pfizer's oncology business, which now has a pipeline with 60 programs.
“Cancer remains a leading cause of death, and one in three people in the U.S. will receive a cancer diagnosis in their lifetime. With one of the largest investments in Pfizer’s history, we are going all in on cancer," Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla said in a news release.
With the acquisition of Seagen, Pfizer gets four more approved cancer drugs, which are aimed at Hodgkin lymphoma and bladder, breast and cervical cancer. Seagen CEO David Epstein previously told the Business Journal joining Pfizer provides Seagen with added reach and resources.
He added that Pfizer has more chemists to tackle some of the ideas Seagen is targeting, and Seagen isn't limited in how many trials it can run with the added resources of Pfizer.
Seagen was founded in 1997 as Seattle Genetics. The company is building a 270,000-square-foot biomanufacturing facility in Everett that is set to open in 2024. The company also has a facility in the Bay Area. Epstein said previously the company plans to keep those facilities after the sale. Seagen generated $2 billion in revenue last year.
Epstein, a former Novartis executive, took over the CEO role at Seagen in November 2022, replacing ousted co-founder and former CEO Clay Siegall who resigned in May 2022 following an arrest on suspicion of domestic violence. The city prosecutor later declined to file charges, citing issues with the evidence.
Pfizer, headquartered in New York City, generated $13.2 billion in revenue during the third quarter, down 42% year over year. The company generated $44.2 billion in revenue during the first nine months of 2023, also down 42% year over year. Its oncology business generated $8.7 billion during the first nine months of the year, down from $9.1 billion during the same period last year.
