Dec. 13 (UPI) -- Pharma giant Pfizer announced on Monday that it's buying Arena Pharmaceuticals, a drug company that specializes in inflammation and immunology, for almost $7 billion.
Pfizer said it will finance the deal, worth $6.7 billion, with cash on hand. It will pay $100 per share of Arena stock and expects the deal to close early next year.
Officials said the boards of both companies have already approved the acquisition.
Arena is a clinical-stage company that's developing therapies for several immuno-inflammatory diseases and gastroenterology, dermatology and cardiology conditions.
Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla said in a tweet that the Arena acquisition allows the company to address "unmet needs" for varying diseases.
One of Arena's newest treatments, Etrasimod, is used to treat ulcerative colitis and Crohn's disease. Pfizer has also been developing a treatment for ulcerative colitis, which affects nearly 3 million people in the United States.
The acquisition comes after Pfizer bought immunology company Trillium Therapeutics last month for $2.2 billion.
For much of the past year, Pfizer has been working with BioNTech on their COVID19 vaccines. A British study said Monday that Pfizer's vaccine appears to be less effective in producing antibodies when facing the Omicron coronavirus variant.
Pfizer has said it expects to generate about $36 billion this year from sales of the vaccine.
