Roche Holding AG made an official statement today, revealing that it reached an agreement over the acquisition of Seragon Pharmaceuticals Inc. in a deal estimated at about $1.7 billion. The company made the decision in a bid to secure a new generation of experimental breast cancer drugs.
The deal between the biotech California-based subsidiary of Roche Holding – Genentech and Seragon will need the approval of US antitrust authorities and is expected to be finalized over the third fiscal quarter this year, according to Roches statement. $725 million in cash are to be initially paid, and another $1 billion in case that certain development goals are met.
The technology provided by Seragon “could one day redefine the standard of care for hormone receptor-positive breast cancer,” Richard Scheller, head of research and early development at Roche’s Genentech unit, said, cited by Bloomberg.
Seragon is developing a class of drugs, called “selective estrogen receptor degraders”, or SERDs, which isolate cancer cells from the flow of estrogen. Аs much as 60% of all breast cancer types need estrogen in order to grow and spread, the Wall Street journal reported.
Roche Holding AG has been expanding its oncology-drugs market through its Genentech unit, and the Switzerland-based company already sells two breast cancer drugs, called Kadcyla and Perjeta, as well as other cancer-related drugs.
Previously, Roche said last month that it is acquiring Mountain View, which develops DNA-sequencing technology, while earlier this year Roche bought IQuum, a molecular-diagnostics developer.
Roche Holding AG added 0.53% to trade at 265.60 Swiss Francs per share by 11:17 GMT, marking a one year change of +12.69%. According to information published on the Financial Times, the 25 analysts offering 12-month price targets for Roche Holding AG have a median target of 285.00, with a high estimate of 335.00 and a low estimate of 246.00. The median estimate represents a 7.87% increase from the last price of 264.20.
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