- NASDAQ:IMMU rockets up nearly 100% to rise even higher than Gilead.
- Cancer-treating drug, Trodelvy, was the key to the acquisition.
- Purchase price of Immunomedics is nearly a 110% premium compared to what shares were trading at before the deal.
NASDAQ:IMMU has hit the proverbial jackpot as pharmaceutical titan Gilead Sciences (NASDAQ:GILD) acquired the New Jersey-based biotech company in an all-stock deal worth $21 billion. Shares of Immunomedics jumped from a closing price of $42.25 on Friday and opened at $86.89 on Monday – a rise of nearly 100%. Gilead’s stock on the other hand fell to start the morning as investors and analysts were slightly critical of the price that it paid for Immunomedics, but the shares closed the day up 2.22%.
The catalyst for Gilead’s aggressive pursuit of Immunomedics revolved around the firm’s cancer treatment for triple-negative breast cancer patients called Trodelvy. The drug received accelerated approval from the FDA and Gilead has plans to expand to Europe in the first quarter of 2021. Wall Street analysts did not love the price of the purchase but were mostly in agreement that Gilead needed to pay up for Immunomedics in order to get Trodelvy, a legitimate cancer-treating drug, in its stable of products. One ISI Evercore analyst estimates that peak annual sales of Trodelvy could be worth as much as $4 billion a year for Gilead – which already has its coronavirus treatment Remdesivir coming down the pipeline after receiving emergency authorization from the FDA.
IMMU stock news
The deal for Gilead to acquire Immunomedics is set to close in the fourth quarter of 2020, so where IMMU’s stock goes from here is anybody’s guess. It is an all-stock deal so, presumably, IMMU investors would receive shares of Gilead when the acquisition finalizes. If Redmesivir and Trodelvy can hit the ground running in 2021, hesitant Gilead investors may soon see the merits of the steep price that was paid to acquire Immunomedics.
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