The Cambridge, MA-based biotech
company said it has agreed to acquire Laval,
Quebec-based ViroChem Pharma, a privately held
company, for an estimated $375 million in cash and stock, bringing it the rights to two promising drugs in development that may work well with its own hepatitis C drug, telaprevir.
Vertex (NASDAQ: VRTX) agreed to pay $100 million in cash, and will issue ViroChem another 9.9 million shares of stock, which were worth about $275 million at today’s closing stock price of $27.