Takeda acquiring Ariad

Takeda Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd. (Tokyo:4502) will acquire cancer company Ariad Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ:ARIA) for $24 per share in cash, or about $5.2 billion. The price is a 75% premium to Ariad's close Friday of $13.74, before the deal was announced. The partners expect the deal to close by the end of February.

Ariad markets cancer drug Iclusig ponatinib, which is approved to treat chronic myelogenous leukemia (CML) and Philadelphia chromosome-positive (Ph+) acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL). Nine-month sales of the pan-BCR-ABL TKI were $133.3 million, according to Ariad's 3Q16 earnings report...