Pharmacyclics Shares Soar On AbbVie Deal

Shares of Pharmacyclics Inc. soared by more than 10% to an all-time high in early trades Thursday after it was announced the Sunnyvale, Calif.-based drug maker would be acquired AbbVie Inc. for $21 billion, or $261.25 a share. North Chicago, Ill.-based AbbVie will add to its product line of blood cancer treatments via the purchase. Pharmacyclics's flagship product is the drug Imbruvica, which received three breakthrough therapy designations by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. It is used to treat certain types of leukemia and lymphoma. Pharmacyclics was up $24.26 to $254.74 in recent action while AbbVie dropped nearly 3% to $58.64.