J&J strikes $6.5 billion deal for autoimmune disease specialist Momenta
Johnson & Johnson on Wednesday agreed to pay about $ 6.5 billion in cash to buy Momenta Pharmaceuticals in a deal aimed at expanding its portfolio of autoimmune disease treatments.
The deal gives J & J's Janssen unit access to Momenta's experimental therapy, nipocalimab, being tested for myasthenia gravis, a neuromuscular disease that causes weakness in muscles, and other diseases where the immune system attacks the body.
J&J hopes to get the drug approved to treat several conditions and eventually bring in blockbuster sales, as the company bulks up its pharmaceuticals unit, its largest business.
Shares of Cambridge, Massachusetts-based Momenta were up 69.3% at $ 52.15 before the bell, just a hair's breadth away from the offer price of $ 52.50.
Johnson & Johnson said an estimated 2.5% of the global population have some type of autoantibody-driven disease, many of which are rare diseases.
Its drug Stelara targets an autoimmune disease called psoriatic arthritis.
J&J, which is also one of the drugmakers racing to develop a vaccine for the coronavirus, has recently signed deals with the United States and Britain for future doses of the vaccine.
Aug. 24, 2020