Amgen on Monday said it has agreed to acquire Ireland-based drugmaker Horizon Therapeutics, outlasting rival suitors Sanofi and Johnson & Johnson in takeover negotiations that were first disclosed last month.
The deal values Horizon at $27.8 billion on a fully diluted basis. In dollar terms, it’s the largest in Amgen’s four-decade history, eclipsing a 2002 acquisition of Immunex that gave the California biotechnology company rights to Enbrel, its top-selling drug and for years one of the most lucrative pharmaceutical products.
