Forest Laboratories Inc said it would purchase Furiex Pharmaceuticals Inc for up to $1.46 billion, including milestone payments, to add a promising treatment for irritable bowel syndrome to its gastrointestinal drugs portfolio.Forest will pay about $95 per share in cash to Furiex shareholders and up to $30 per share as contingent value rights.Furiex's shares rose about 30 percent to $104.56 in morning trade.The acquisition is the latest of several multi-billion dollar healthcare deals and offers announced over the past week as the industry goes on a shopping spree to either gain scale or pick up expertise in specific disease areas.
Forest Laboratories, Inc. (Forest) develops, manufactures and sells branded forms of ethical drug products, which requires a physician's prescription. Shares of FRX fell by 0.32% or $-0.285/share to $89.56. In the past year, the shares have traded as low as $36.89 and as high as $100.88. On average, 3698830 shares of FRX exchange hands on a given day and today's volume is recorded at 779517.
Furiex Pharmaceuticals, Inc. is a drug development collaboration company. Shares of FURX traded higher by 29.41% or $23.575/share to $103.72. In the past year, the shares have traded as low as $32.01 and as high as $121.97. On average, 338232 shares of FURX exchange hands on a given day and today's volume is recorded at 2625707.
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