Astellas, a biopharmaceutical company based in Japan, is set to acquire Iveric Bio, a pharmaceutical company specializing in ophthalmic treatments, for $5.9 billion. This is one of several major acquisitions in the pharmaceutical industry this year. In March, Pfizer purchased Seagen for $43 billion, while in April, Merck acquired Prometheus Biosciences for $10.8 billion and GSK took over Canada's Bellus Health for $2 billion.

Faced with declining revenues due to its best-selling product losing patent protection in the coming years, Astellas Pharma is actively seeking new drugs for its portfolio. It has identified Iveric Bio's drug aimed at treating widespread vision loss disorder as a promising candidate. The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is expected to make a decision on the approval of Avacincaptad Pegol in less than three months. This drug has shown in a Phase 3 clinical trial to reduce the rate of progression of geographic atrophy (GA). GA causes irreversible vision loss in patients with age-related macular degeneration (AMD) and until recently, no treatment was available.

Since 2007, Astellas, Japan's second largest pharmaceutical company by sales, has invested more than JPY1 trillion (US$7.3 billion) in overseas acquisitions and partnerships. Its most recent acquisitions include the purchase of US drugmaker Audentes Therapeutics for US$3 billion in 2019 and the takeover of US oncology specialist OSI Pharmaceuticals for US$3.8 billion in 2010. Other Japanese companies, such as beer maker Kirin and IT specialist Fujitsu, are following this trend of seeking growth outside the domestic market.

Under the terms of the deal announced Sunday night, Astellas will pay $40 in cash per Iveric share, a 21.6% premium to Friday's closing share price.