Sanofi to buy Provention Bio in deal worth $2.9 billion

French pharmaceutical group Sanofi said Monday that it will buy Provention Bio, Inc., a U.S.-based biopharmaceutical company focused on autoimmune diseases, for $25 per share in cash, in a deal with an equity value of $2.9 billion. The deal will allow Sanofi to add to its portfolio, TZIELD, which was approved in the U.S. last year as the first disease-modifying treatment for the delay of Stage 3 type 1 diabetes (T1D). Provention announced late last year a deal with Sanofi to co-promote the treatment in the U.S..