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Pfizer’s Buying Spree Continues With GBT, Gaining A Sickle Cell Disease Franchise

 
• By Jessica Merrill

Pfizer has reached a deal to buy Global Blood Therapeutics for $5.4bn, gaining the sickle cell therapy Oxbryta and building on efforts to reach underserved patient groups.

Sickle Cell Disease
Pfizer is expanding in the sickle cell disease space with GBT acquisition • Source: Shutterstock

Pfizer Inc. is continuing to execute on a business development strategy centered on bringing in marketed drugs or late-stage pipeline opportunities with its latest acquisition – the sickle cell disease specialist Global Blood Therapeutics, Inc. for $5.4bn. The two companies announced they had reached an agreement for Pfizer to acquire the company for $68.50 per share in cash on 8 August.

Pfizer said the acquisition of GBT will expand its heritage in the area of rare hematology, though it marks its first foray into the sickle cell disease (SCD) commercial market. The pharma has tried previously to bring drugs to market for SCD, however, including a nearly 10-year collaboration with GlycoMimetics, Inc. to develop rivipansel for the painful vaso-occlusive crisis (VOC) experienced by patients with SCD, which ended in disappointment in 2020

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