Biotechnology company Amgen has agreed to pay $27.8 billion to buy Horizon Therapeutics — throwing into question the future of Horizon’s sprawling Deerfield offices.
Horizon, which is based in Ireland, sells orphan drugs, which are medications for rare diseases, and drugs to treat rheumatic diseases. Amgen is a large drugmaker based in California. A new Amgen subsidiary will acquire Horizon. The deal is expected to close in the first half of next year, pending regulatory approvals.
Horizon has about 2,000 employees globally, including about 600 at its U.S. headquarters in Deerfield. A Horizon spokesman declined to comment Monday on what will become of those Deerfield offices.
But the companies said in a formal document announcing the plan that once the deal closes, the combined companies’ global headquarters will be in Thousand Oaks, Calif., and Amgen will evaluate whether to consolidate some or all of the company’s other locations to California and other Amgen locations.
In 2020, Horizon decided to relocate its U.S. headquarters from Lake Forest to the old Takeda Pharmaceutical Co. building in Deerfield — a three-building, 650,000-square-foot campus visible from I-94.
Horizon was founded in 2008 with only a few workers but has grown rapidly since then. Horizon’s best-selling drug is Tepezza, for thyroid eye disease, which came from a company Horizon acquired in 2017. Horizon sold nearly $491 million worth of Tepezza during the three months that ended Sept. 30.
Horizon’s second-best-selling drug is Krystexxa, a drug for uncontrolled gout.
“In nearly 15 years, we have built one of the fastest growing and most respected companies in the biotechnology industry from the ground up,” said Tim Walbert, Horizon chairman, president and CEO, in a news release Monday. “Amgen is aligned with that commitment and passion and will continue to maximize the value of the current portfolio and pipeline and accelerate the ability to reach more patients globally.”
Amgen’s top-selling drugs are Enbrel, for rheumatoid arthritis, and Prolia, for osteoporosis.
Amgen had revenue of $6.7 billion in its last full quarter, and Horizon had net sales of $925 million during its last full quarter.
Amgen chairman and CEO Robert Bradway said Monday morning, during an investor call, he doesn’t expect regulators to block the deal with Horizon. “We don’t see any overlaps that should be of concern to regulators,” he said.
The news Monday came just a couple of weeks after Horizon confirmed it was in discussions with Amgen, Janssen Global Services and Sanofi over a possible acquisition.
Janssen, which is part of Johnson & Johnson, said Dec. 3 it had bowed out of acquisition talks. Sanofi said in a news release Sunday that it would not buy Horizon “as transaction price expectations do not meet our value creation criteria.”
Under the terms of the deal with Amgen, Horizon shareholders would receive $116.50 per share, a premium of about 19.7% to the closing price of $97.29 per share on Dec. 9.
Horizon shares were up nearly 15% Monday morning after the news was announced.
