Sanofi will buy South San Francisco, Calif.-based Principia Biopharma for $3.68 billion, the French drugmaker announced in an Aug. 17 news release.
The acquisition, a part of Sanofi's recent ventures to own more specialty drugs, gives the company Principia's pipeline for autoimmune disease treatments, including those that treat multiple sclerosis and a rare skin condition.
"This acquisition advances our ongoing R&D transformation to accelerate development of the most promising medicines that will address significant patient needs," Sanofi CEO Paul Hudson said in the news release. "The addition of multiple BTK inhibitors to our pipeline demonstrates our commitment to strategic product acquisitions in our priority therapeutic areas. Full ownership of our brain-penetrant BTK inhibitor '168 removes complexities for this priority development program and simplifies future commercialization."
Under the deal, Sanofi will buy all of Principia's outstanding shares for $100 per share in cash, a 10 percent premium over its Aug. 14 closing price.