Ambrx Biopharma stock doubles on JNJ deal

Shares of Ambrx Biopharma Inc (NASDAQ: AMAM) roughly doubled this morning after Johnson & Johnson (NYSE: JNJ) revealed plans of acquiring the clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company.

Details of the JNJ-Ambrx deal

Johnson & Johnson is willing to pay about $2.0 billion to buy the Nasdaq-listed firm. The definitive agreement values each of its share at $28.

Ambrx has a proprietary synthetic biology technology platform for next-gen ADCs (antibody drug conjugates). Yusri Elsayed of Johnson & Johnson Innovative Medicine said in a press release today:

Shares of Johnson & Johnson are marginally in the red in premarket on Monday.

ADC developers have been in demand

Evidently, Johnson & Johnson is committed to expanding its footprint in cancer therapies.

Antibody drug conjugates, in particular, have attracted massive interested from pharmaceutical behemoths in recent months as these “guided missiles” target cancer cells while keeping damage to healthy tissue at a minimum.

In November, peer AbbVie also announced plans of spending $10.1 billion to acquire a Waltham-headquartered developer of ADCs – Immunogen as Invezz reported here.

The news arrives only weeks before Johnson & Johnson is scheduled to report its financial results for the fourth quarter. Consensus is for it to earn $2.32 a share versus $2.35 per share a year ago.