Biopharma giant Pfizer is paying $1.9 billion to buy Vicuron Pharmaceuticals, a King of Prussia, Pennsylvania-based drug developer with two products under FDA review. The deal for $29.10 per share marks a 74 percent premium over Vicuron's 90-day average stock price, which closed Wednesday at $15.80 and shot up 77 percent in premarket trading. The buyout will put a number of compounds in Pfizer's pipeline, including anidulafungin for fungal infections and dalbavancin for Gram-positive infections. Dalbavancin has shown positive results in Phase III studies in complicated skin and soft tissue infections and in a Phase II study in catheter-related bloodstream infections. The product has once-weekly dosing.
"By acquiring Vicuron, we can help bring two very important new medicines to patients around the world," said Hank McKinnell, chairman and CEO of Pfizer. "This transaction builds on Pfizer's extensive experience in anti-infectives and demonstrates our commitment to strengthen and broaden our pharmaceutical business through strategic product acquisitions."
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