Aug 3 (Reuters) – Radiopharmaceutical company Curium has agreed to buy peer Lantheus Holdings in a deal worth up to $8 billion, as the private equity-backed firm looks to expand its footprint in the fast-growing sector.
Radiopharmaceuticals use radioactive compounds to diagnose and treat diseases such as cancer and have become one of the hottest areas in healthcare dealmaking.
Under the agreement announced on Monday, Lantheus shareholders will get $102.50 per share in cash when the deal closes, plus rights to receive up to $12 more per share if certain sales targets are met by 2030.
The total consideration of up to $114.50 per share represents a premium of about 14.9% to Lantheus stock’s last closing price of $99.64.
Lantheus has been a target of takeover interest for months, weighing a sale after receiving an offer from Curium that valued the radiopharma company at about $7 billion, Bloomberg News reported in May.
Among other deals in radiopharmaceuticals in recent years, Bristol Myers Squibb bought RayzeBio for roughly $4.1 billion, AstraZeneca acquired Fusion Pharmaceuticals in a deal worth up to about $2.4 billion, and Eli Lilly snapped up Point Biopharma for roughly $1.4 billion.
Lantheus makes diagnostic imaging agents used to detect cancer as well as other diseases. Its lead product, Pylarify, a prostate cancer imaging agent, is used in PET scans, which deploy radioactive tracers to help doctors find signs of the disease.
In March, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved a new formulation of Pylarify aimed at expanding scanning access through increased production capacity.
Curium, backed by private equity firm CapVest Partners, develops and supplies radiopharmaceuticals used in diagnosis and treatment.
The companies said the combination would serve patients across more than 70 countries, spanning diagnostics and therapeutics for cancer, as well as neurological and heart conditions.
The deal will be financed through a combination of debt and equity and is not subject to financing conditions. It is expected to close in the first half of 2027.
Shares of Lantheus were up nearly 3% in premarket trading.
(Reporting by Kamal Choudhury and Kunal Das in Bengaluru; Editing by Devika Syamnath)
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