Pfizer to acquire King Pharmaceuticals

NEW YORK Pfizer will buy King Pharmaceuticals for $3.6 billion, Pfizer said Tuesday.

The world’s largest drug maker announced that it had agreed to acquire Bristol, Tenn.-based King for $14.25 per share, which it said was a 40% premium over the Monday closing price of King’s stock.

Pfizer said the purchase is meant to strengthen its position in the pain-relief market. King makes pain drugs designed to discourage common methods of abuse and misuse, and also makes, through a subsidiary, the emergency auto-injector used for Mylan subsidiary Dey Pharma’s EpiPen (epinephrine).