Pfizer beats Sanofi to buy Medivation for US$14b

New York

PFIZER Inc has agreed to buy Medivation Inc for about US$14 billion, gaining a blockbuster prostate cancer treatment and leaving French drugmaker Sanofi jilted.

Pfizer will pay US$81.50 a share in cash, the companies said in a statement on Monday. Shares of Medivation, which closed at US$67.16 last Friday, climbed about 20 per cent to US$80.57 in early US trading.

By acquiring Medivation, Pfizer gets Xtandi, a cancer drug that is already approved for sale in the US and elsewhere, and that analysts project will generate US$1.33 billion in annual sales by 2020. Pfizer chief executive officer Ian Read said in May that …