AbbVie acquires Pharmacyclics for Imbruvica (2015)
AbbVie paid about $21 billion in cash and stock for Pharmacyclics, acquiring the blood-cancer drug Imbruvica, already approved and generating strong sales. The deal gave AbbVie a commercial anchor beyond its then-flagship anti-inflammatory drug Humira.
Imbruvica became one of the best-selling cancer drugs, with annual sales peaking above $5 billion.
The acquisition supported AbbVie through Humira's patent cliff and validated buying commercial-stage oncology assets to diversify pipeline risk.
Both deals center on buying an approved product with proven sales to offset research-heavy portfolios. Zymeworks' per-share price is far smaller, but the mechanism is the same.
