Ticker: Bristol Myers Squibb acquires Karuna Therapeutics for $14B; Wall Street caps 8th straight winning week
Drugmaker Bristol Myers Squibb is acquiring Karuna Therapeutics, a biopharmaceutical company that has developed a new antipsychotic, in a $14 billion deal.
Bristol Myers Squibb and Karuna announced their merger agreement on Friday. The transaction, which amounts to $330 per share in cash, offers a premium of 53% over Karuna’s stock on Thursday. The deal was unanimously approved by both companies’ boards of directors.
Karuna’s top asset is KarXT, an experimental antipsychotic with a promising novel mechanism. KarXT is currently being reviewed by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for treatment of schizophrenia in adults. The drug is also undergoing trials related to Alzheimer’s disease psychosis.
“We expect KarXT to enhance our growth through the late 2020s and into the next decade,” Christopher Boerner, Bristol Myers Squibb CEO, said in a prepared statement, noting that the Karuna acquisition strengthens the company’s neuroscience portfolio. Bristol’s top seller is Eliquis, used to treat and prevent dangerous blood clots.
Wall Street caps 8th straight winning week
Wall Street capped its eighth straight winning week with a quiet finish Friday, following reports showing inflation on the way down and the economy potentially on the way up.
The S&P 500 rose 0.2% to sit less than 1% below its record set nearly two years ago. The Dow Jones Industrial Average slipped 18 points, or less than 0.1%, and the Nasdaq composite edged 0.2% higher.