Horizon Therapeutics plc
’s (
HZNP
) shares increased 6.29% after it announced that it has entered into a definitive agreement with
Viela Bio, Inc.
VIE
to acquire all its shares for $3.05 billion. Horizon will acquire all Viela Bio’s issued and outstanding shares for $53 each. The transaction is expected to close by first quarter-end. Shares of the company have increased 125.1% in the past year compared with the
industry
’s 16.1% rally.
The acquisition is in sync with Horizon’s strategy of expanding its pipeline in order to accelerate growth over the long term. The acquisition will bolster the company’s research and development ability by adding expertise from Viela Bio in autoimmune and inflammatory disease.
With the acquisition, Horizon will add Viela’s Uplizna (inebilizumab-cdon) to its portfolio, which is the first and only FDA-approved B-cell-depleting humanized monoclonal antibody for the treatment of neuromyelitis optica spectrum disorder. It is also in phase III studies for the treatment of a chronic, rare autoimmune neuromuscular disease – myasthenia gravis. Three other pipeline candidates will also be added to Horizon’s portfolio.
Horizon expects that the deal will reduce adjusted earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) by $140 million in 2021, nearly all of which can be attributed to increased research and development investment.
It intends to finance the transaction through $1.3 billion of external debt and cash on hand.
Horizon’s marketed drugs include Tepezza for thyroid eye disease (TED) and Krystexxa for chronic gout. Last week, Horizon submitted a prior approval supplement to the FDA to support increased scale production of Tepezza drug product for the treatment of TED. The submission includes data to support more product output. Increased production scale is necessary due to government-mandated COVID-19 vaccine production orders.
Zacks Rank & Key Picks
Horizon currently has a Zacks Rank #5 (Strong Sell).
Some better-ranked stocks in the healthcare sector include
Acorda Therapeutics Inc.
ACOR
and
Anavex Life Sciences Corp.
AVXL
, each carrying a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). You can see
the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here
.
Acorda’s loss per share estimates have narrowed from $9.66 to $8.48 for 2020 and from $9.60 to $7.33 for 2021 over the past 60 days.
Anavex’s loss per share estimates have narrowed from 48 cents to 46 cents for 2021 over the past 60 days. Shares of the company have increased 99.1% in the past year.
Horizon Therapeutics Public Limited Company Price
Horizon Therapeutics Public Limited Company price
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Horizon Therapeutics Public Limited Company Quote
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