Was This Acquisition a Savvy Play by This Big Pharma Stock?

Earlier this month, U.K.-based drugmaker GSK (NYSE: GSK) reached a deal to buy Canadian biotech company Bellus Health (NASDAQ: BLU) for $2 billion in cash. Should GSK's deal for Bellus Health be approved by regulatory authorities and a two-thirds majority of the latter's shareholders, the former will pick up a promising drug candidate, camlipixant, that aims to treat refractory chronic cough (RCC). Surprisingly, there are no approved therapies for RCC in the United States or the European Union.