Pfizer’s $11.6 billion planned acquisition of Biohaven PharmaceuticalBHVN +68.39% Holding is only the start of the spending spree that the company has planned, the company signaled on Tuesday.
PfizerPFE +1.75% (ticker: PFE) appears to be prepared to spend tens of billion dollars more as it gets ready for a number of its key drugs to go off patent toward the end of the decade. That is good news for the biotech sector, where valuations have plummeted this year, partly because deals have been rare.
Pfizer’s coffers have filled up over the course of the pandemic, through sales of its vaccine and its Covid-19 therapeutic. Sales are expected to top $100 billion this year for the first time in the company’s history, and analysts expect it to end the year with cash and cash equivalents of $30.5 billion, according to FactSet.
Until Tuesday morning, the company had been slow to spend that money. Its only acquisition announced this year was the $525 million deal to buy the private drugmaker ReViral. It also closed a $5.4 billion acquisition of Arena Pharmaceuticals, announced last year.
