Roche Holding AG said it would pay up to $1.725 billion to purchase Seragon Pharmaceuticals, a privately-held U.S. biotech company that researches breast cancer treatments.Roche has long dominated the field of breast cancer with drugs such as Herceptin and recently won approval for Kadcyla and Perjeta, two treatments for patients whose cancer cells contain increased amounts of the protein known as HER2.San Diego-based Seragon was spun out from Aragon Pharmaceuticals last year when that company was bought by Johnson & Johnson. Seragon is focused on developing a new generation of oral medicines that it believes offer an improved way of tackling hormone receptor-positive breast cancer, and potentially other cancers.Its most advanced experimental drug, ARN-810, is currently in initial Phase I clinical trials for breast cancer patients who have not responded to current hormonal agents.
Johnson & Johnson is a holding company. The Company is engaged in the research and development, manufacture and sale of a broad range of products in the health care field. Shares of JNJ fell by 0.1% or $-0.11/share to $105.76. In the past year, the shares have traded as low as $85.50 and as high as $106.00. On average, 6777030 shares of JNJ exchange hands on a given day and today's volume is recorded at 2840175.
Source
