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Alexion to Pay $8.4 Billion for Massachusetts Company

Courtesy Alexion Pharmaceuticals
Alexion is the midst of building a new headquarters in New Haven

Alexion Pharmaceuticals, the Cheshire-based company, will cut an $8.4 billion deal to buy another drug maker. Alexion says it has an agreement to buy Synageva BioPharma, located in Lexington, Massachusetts, for the equivalent of $230 a share. 

That price is a more than 130 percent premium on Synageva’s closing stock price Tuesday.

The Massachusetts company has two treatments for rare diseases currently in development. Later this year it expects to gain FDA approval for Kanuma, a medicine for lysosomal acid lipase deficiency. It also has a medicine in the pipeline called Strensiq, which treats a bone disease called hypophosphatasia.

Alexion has launched its own success on the treatment of a rare blood disorder. Last year it sold more than $2 billion dollars worth of its sole approved drug, Soliris. The acquisition of Synageva will give it “the most robust rare disease pipeline in biotech,” Alexion said in a news release.

The two companies expect the deal to close in mid-summer, subject to shareholder and regulatory approval.

Harriet Jones is Managing Editor for Connecticut Public Radio, overseeing the coverage of daily stories from our busy newsroom.

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