Shire Strengthens Rare Diseases With Dyax Buy

Shire will pay roughly $5.9 billion to acquire the biotech firm Dyax. The deal will deepen Shire’s roster of treatments for hereditary angioedema (HAE), a rare, genetic immune system disorder. Dyax adds the approved HAE drug Kalbitor, and DX-2930, a plasma kallikrein inhibitor that is expected to start Phase III trials in HAE later this year. Shire, which already markets the HAE treatment Cinryze, says DX-2930 could generate annual sales of up to $2 billion. Shire claims that the deal for Dyax will not disrupt its ongoing pursuit of the specialty pharmaceuticals firm Baxalta, which this summer rejected an unsolicited $30 billion bid from Shire.