By Padmanabhan Ananthan
June 22 (Reuters) – AbbVie said on Monday it would buy biotech Apogee Therapeutics for $10.9 billion, in its largest buyout in more than five years to strengthen its next-gen immunology pipeline.
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The acquisition, one of the largest biotech deals of the year, underscores the surge in pharmaceutical dealmaking, as companies race to build their portfolios ahead of looming patent expirations on blockbuster treatments.
AbbVie has pursued M&As over the past few years to build new growth drivers as it navigates Humira’s loss of exclusivity and prepares for patent cliffs of its top-selling immunology drugs Skyrizi and Rinvoq.
They include the $10.1 billion ImmunoGen deal for ovarian cancer drug Elahere and Cerevel Therapeutics for a clutch of experimental treatments for neurological and psychiatric diseases.
The Apogee acquisition grants AbbVie access to its lead drug candidate, zumilokibart, an experimental treatment targeting a range of inflammatory diseases including moderate-to-severe atopic dermatitis and asthma.
“We believe the deal makes sense and that AbbVie is an ideal acquirer to maximize zumilokibart’s potential,” RBC Capital Markets analyst Brian Abrahams said.
Abrahams said Apogee had long been viewed as a potential takeover target because zumilokibart is administered far less frequently than existing therapies and addresses a large and growing atopic dermatitis market.
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AbbVie has offered $135.11 per Apogee share held, which implies a 49.49% premium to the stock’s Thursday close.
Shares of Apogee were up 47% in premarket trading, while AbbVie was up 1.5%.
STRATEGIC FIT FOR ABBVIE
If approved, zumilokibart will fortify and complement AbbVie’s immunology and inflammatory diseases portfolio, while also offering a potentially more convenient option to Sanofi and Regeneron’s blockbuster Dupixent.
Unlike Dupixent, which is typically administered every two weeks in atopic dermatitis, zumilokibart is being studied as a subcutaneous injection given once every three or six months, likely offering a substantial reduction in dosing frequency.
AbbVie’s immunology franchise generated more than $30 billion in revenue in 2025, up 14% from the previous year, as strong growth from blockbuster medicines Skyrizi and Rinvoq made up for a 49% decline in sales of legacy drug Humira.
The transaction is expected to close in the third quarter and add to adjusted earnings per share in 2032, AbbVie said.
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(Reporting by Padmanabhan Ananthan in Bengaluru; Editing by Sriraj Kalluvila)
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