M&A News: 89bio Stock (ETNB) Soars 83% on Roche’s $3.5 Billion Acquisition Blockbuster

Wall Street gets a jolt as Roche drops $3.5 billion to acquire 89bio—sending ETNB shares skyrocketing 83% in a single trading session.

Pharma Giant Bets Big

Roche's massive acquisition signals aggressive expansion into metabolic disease treatments, paying a hefty premium for 89bio's pipeline. The deal immediately validates the biotech's research—and makes early investors very rich, very fast.

Market Reactions & Ripple Effects

Traders pile into biotech ETFs while analysts scramble to upgrade sector outlooks. The move pressures other pharma giants to pursue their own acquisitions—before prime targets disappear.

Because when Big Pharma goes shopping, everyone else just watches their portfolios get a caffeine hit. Even traditional finance can't ignore a 83% single-day pop—though they'll probably still call it 'speculative' while counting their commissions.

Elevate Your Investing Strategy:

• Take advantage of TipRanks Premium at 50% off! Unlock powerful investing tools, advanced data, and expert analyst insights to help you invest with confidence.

Roche continues to make strategic acquisitions to enhance its portfolio. Earlier this year, the company acquired rights to an obesity therapy developed by Denmark’s Zealand Pharma (ZLDPF).

Insights from Roche’s Acquisition of 89bio

Roche is acquiring 89bio stock for $14.50 per share in cash, representing a premium of about 79% to the latter’s closing stock price on September 17, 2025, which brings the aggregate payment to $2.4 billion.

The deal also involves a non-tradeable contingent value right (CVR) to receive payments of up to $6.00 per share upon achievement of specified milestones. Consequently, this brings the transaction’s total equity value up to $3.5 billion.

Notably, 89bio’s leading drug, pegozafermin, a part of a class known as FGF21 analogues, is in the late stages of development to treat metabolic dysfunction-associated steatohepatitis (MASH), also known as fatty liver, including advanced stages. The deal’s first milestone involves a payment of $2.00 per share, upon the first commercial sale of pegozafermin in F4 MASH cirrhotic patients by March 31, 2030.

Meanwhile, the deal has been approved by 89bio’s board of directors. The acquisition is expected to be completed in the fourth quarter of 2025.

Wall Street’s Ratings on Roche and 89bio

Using TipRanks’ Stock Comparison Tool, let’s look at the ratings of the two stocks.

Currently, Wall Street has a Strong Buy consensus rating on 89bio stock, with the average ETNB price target of $27 indicating 234.16% upside potential.

In comparison, Roche has a Moderate Sell consensus rating, with the average ETNB stock price target of $42.33 indicating a 2.8% upside potential.