By Colin Kellaher


India's Sun Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. on Thursday said it agreed to buy Concert Pharmaceuticals Inc. for an initial $576 million in cash.

Mumbai-based drugmaker Sun would pay an initial $8 a share for Concert, a 16% premium to Wednesday's closing price of $6.90 for the Lexington, Mass., late-stage biotechnology company.

Concert shareholders will also receive non-tradeable contingent value rights worth up to an additional $3.50 a share based on milestones tied to the company's deuruxolitinib drug candidate for alopecia areata, a chronic autoimmune skin disease that causes hair loss on the scalp, face or body.

Sun said it expects to complete the acquisition in the first quarter.

Trading in shares of Concert was halted premarket on Thursday.


Write to Colin Kellaher at colin.kellaher@wsj.com


(END) Dow Jones Newswires

01-19-23 0832ET