This $5 Billion Biotech Home Run Took Less Than a Year

You can’t completely blame Pfizer’s executives, yet Roche’s $7 billion acquisition of a bowel-disease treatment that it owned until last year isn’t a great look.

In a deal that now feels like a biotech version of “Moneyball,” Roivant announced it was selling an asset that only 11 months ago it got for free from Pfizer. (The Wall Street Journal had reported the talks back in July). Big pharma companies focused on the drug industry equivalent of free agent signings will often overlook one of their own hot prospects. In fact, Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy founded Roivant on the idea that pharma’s trash can be another company’s treasure. But this one became an almost instant All-Star.