JOHNSON & JOHNSON TO BUY MOMENTA FOR $6.5B

Johnson & Johnson said on Wednesday it would buy Momenta Pharmaceuticals, Inc. for about $6.5 billion in cash to bolster its portfolio of treatments for autoimmune diseases.

Momenta shares were up 68% at $51.98 before the bell, just shy of the offer price of $52.20, Manash Misra reported for Reuters late on August 19, 2020.

The deal gives Johnson & Johnson’s Janssen unit access to Momenta’s experimental therapy, nipocalimab, being tested for myasthenia gravis, a neuromuscular disease that causes weakness in muscles.

“Nipocalimab gives Janssen the opportunity to reach significantly more patients by pursuing indications across many autoimmune diseases,” Johnson & Johnson said in a statement. The drug is being developed to treat diseases where the body’s own antibodies attack or damage proteins and cells.