BHVN Biohaven Ltd

By Colin Kellaher

Shares of Biohaven Pharmaceutical Holding Co. surged more than 70% in early trading Tuesday after the biopharmaceutical company agreed to be acquired by Pfizer Inc.

Pfizer plans to pay $148.50 a share in cash for the 97.4% of Biohaven it doesn't already own, a roughly 79% premium to Monday's closing price of $83.14 for the New Haven, Conn., company.

New York-based Pfizer, which is paying about $11.6 billion in cash in the deal, previously invested $350 million to buy 2.6% of Biohaven at $173 a share as part of a collaboration for the commercialization of Biohaven's rimegepant and zavegepant outside the U.S.

Rimegepant is a migraine drug approved in the U.S. under the trade name Nurtec ODT and in the European Union under the trade name Vydura, while an application for zavegepant is on track for acceptance by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration as an intranasal spray for the acute treatment of migraine.

Rimegepant and zavegepant are the key assets of Biohaven's calcitonin gene-related peptide, or CGRP, portfolio.

As part of the transaction, Biohaven's shareholders will receive stock in a new publicly traded company that will retain the Biohaven name and its non-CGRP pipeline compounds.

Biohaven shares were recently changing hands at $142.07, up about 71%, while Pfizer shares gained 1.7% to $49.47.

Write to Colin Kellaher at colin.kellaher@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

May 10, 2022 09:54 ET (13:54 GMT)

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