(Reuters) -Bristol Myers Squib agreed to buy Karuna Therapeutics for $14 billion on Friday, gaining a promising experimental schizophrenia drug that would help the drugmaker against patent expiration for older treatments.
Analysts have forecast multibillion dollars in sales of KarXT. The deal would help Bristol Myers expands its drug portfolio to offset potential revenue loss from patent expirations later this decade.
Under the terms of the deal, Bristol would pay $330 a share in cash for Karuna, which represents a 53.4% premium to Karuna’s last closing price of $215.19.
Karuna’s shares were trading up at $319.80 in light volumes, while Bristol Myers shares fell 3% before the bell.
Bristol Myers in October signed a deal worth as much as $5.8 billion to buy cancer drugmaker Mirati Therapeutics.
The New York-based company has been pressured by declining demand for two of its top drugs, the blood cancer treatment Revlimid and blood thinner Eliquis, which face generic competition.
(Reporting by Manas Mishra in Bengaluru; Editing by Arun Koyyur)
