Pfizer Buys Anacor With Blockbuster Ambitions For Crisaborole

Pfizer Inc. has made its first M&A move since the planned mega-deal with Allergan PLC collapsed. The big pharma announced May 16 that it will buy Anacor Pharmaceuticals Inc. for $99.25 per share in cash, or approximately $5.2bn.

The deal is a bolt-on acquisition by Pfizer’s standards, nothing like the $160bn merger Pfizer had been planning with Allergan that was thwarted in April by the US treasury. (Also see "Pfizer-Allergan Merger: The End Is Nigh " - Scrip, 6 April, 2016.) But it is in line with the way management has been guiding investors to think about Pfizer’s M&A strategy, mainly that the company is interested in on-market or late-stage assets that will help drive growth in the innovative side of the business.

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