AbbVie’s largest deal since 2019 might land quickly

AbbVie (ABBV) is closing in on a deal to purchase Apogee Therapeutics for $10.9 billion in money, based on a Reuters report citing folks acquainted with the matter within the Monetary Occasions.

The value values Apogee at a roughly 60% premium to its closing share worth on Thursday, June 18, a steep markup for a corporation that has by no means bought a single accepted drug.

AbbVie often reaches for biotechs with marketed merchandise or late stage knowledge in hand, not one nonetheless years from its first launch.

An announcement might come as early as Monday, June 22, Reuters famous, offered negotiations wrap up with out last-minute points. Neither firm has confirmed the talks publicly, and AbbVie and Apogee didn’t instantly reply to requests for remark, partly as a result of AbbVie’s U.S. workplaces have been closed for Juneteenth.

The hole between Apogee’s stand-alone worth and the supply worth tells its personal story. Apogee’s shares have been up practically 20% to date this yr, giving it a market capitalization of about $6.8 billion, based on Reuters.

A $10.9 billion verify is roughly 60% greater than that, which implies AbbVie is paying not only for what Apogee has constructed, but additionally for what it’d show out later.

Apogee’s pipeline rests on a single drug candidate

Apogee Therapeutics (APGE) is a medical stage biotech with no industrial merchandise, constructing antibody medicine for inflammatory and immune illnesses reminiscent of atopic dermatitis, bronchial asthma, and power obstructive pulmonary illness, the company’s pipeline page says.

Its lead candidate, zumilokibartblocks a cytokine known as IL-13 that drives pores and skin irritation in atopic dermatitis.

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That issues for sufferers as a result of Apogee’s personal trial knowledge present the drug can preserve outcomes with dosing as rare as twice a yr, the company reportedin contrast with as much as 26 injections yearly for some present therapies.

That promise already drew outdoors capital earlier than AbbVie confirmed up. In Might, Apogee secured up to $1.3 billion in financing from Blackstone Life Sciences to fund a Section 3 trial and a possible launch with out promoting extra inventory. AbbVie could be shopping for into that very same wager, simply years earlier than any regulatory verdict.

AbbVie wants new progress past Humira

AbbVie’s three lead immunology medicine, Skyrizi, Rinvoq, and the ageing Humira, introduced in $30.4 billion combined last yearup 14% from 2024.

Virtually all of that progress factors to Skyrizi and Rinvoq filling the outlet left by Humira, which retains shedding floor to biosimilar opponents.

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Traders care as a result of that math won’t maintain eternally. AbbVie wants new progress drivers behind its present stars, and it has been shopping for quite than ready to construct them.

Apogee wouldn’t be the corporate’s first early-stage wager. AbbVie paid as much as $2.1 billion last year for Capstan Therapeutics, a Section 1 cell remedy developer in autoimmune illness, and the FDA cleared its first antibody drug conjugate for blood cancer in Might.

Apogee could be the biggest and riskiest of the group.

AbbVie’s Apogee deal displays a broader pharma development

If it closes, the Apogee buy could be AbbVie’s largest since its $63 billion acquisition of Botox maker Allergan in 2019a deal that closed years after Apogee even existed.

The distinction is the purpose. AbbVie as soon as purchased scale and an accepted product lineup. Now it’s paying practically $11 billion for a corporation whose largest asset has not completed testing.

That sample is changing into the norm throughout massive pharma, the place patent cliffs are forcing giant firms to pay up early quite than watch for biotechs to de-risk their very own pipelines.

AbbVie’s technique is coherent on paper: commerce money for time in a market the place Humira’s decline isn’t slowing down.

Whether or not that technique is well worth the worth is the stress Wall Street will spend the subsequent yr pricing, not the one buyers are prone to reject outright.

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This story was initially printed by TheStreet on Jun 21, 2026, the place it first appeared within the Latest Business & Market News part. Add TheStreet as a Preferred Source by clicking here.