Pfizer Buys Anacor With Blockbuster Ambitions For Crisaborole

The deal is a bolt-on acquisition by Pfizer’s standards, nothing like the $160bn merger Pfizer had been planning with Allergan that was thwarted in April by the US treasury. (Also see "Pfizer-Allergan Merger: The End Is Nigh " - Scrip, 6 April, 2016.) But it is in line with the way management has been guiding investors to think about Pfizer’s M&A strategy, mainly that the company is interested in on-market or late-stage assets that will help drive growth in the innovative side of the business.

Anacor owns a non-steroidal topical phosphodiesterase-4 (PDE-4 inhibitor), crisaborole, that is currently under review by FDA for the treatment of...