Roivant stock rallies on report of pending drug sale: WSJ

Shares of Roivant Sciences Ltd.
ROIV,
+1.58%
surged in the extended session Thursday following a report that Roche Holding
ROG,
+1.20%
was close to buying an experimental drug from the biotech company. Roivant shares surged 10% after hours, following a 1.6% gain during the regular trading day to close at $11.60. Late Thursday, the Wall Street Journal reported that Roivant was close to cutting a deal to sell its treatment candidate for ulcerative colitis and Crohn’s disease drug for more than $7 billion, citing unnamed sources close to the matter. That happens to be in the neighborhood of Roivant’s market cap, which was $8.9 billion at Thursday’s close, according to FactSet data. The Journal said the deal could be announced “in the coming days.” In December, Roivant and Pfizer Inc.
PFE,
+0.19%
formed a subsidiary RVT-3101 to commercialize the drug. Pfizer owns a 25% stake of the subsidiary.