June 22 (Reuters) – AbbVie said on Monday ‌it would buy ‌biotech Apogee Therapeutics for $10.9 ​billion in cash, as the U.S. drugmaker builds its ‌next-generation immunology ⁠pipeline.

AbbVie has offered $135.11 per Apogee ⁠share held, which implies a 49.49% ​premium to ​Thursday’s ​close. Shares ‌of Apogee were at $136.3 in premarket trading.

The deal gives AbbVie access to Apogee’s ‌lead drug ​candidate, zumilokibart, ​an ​experimental treatment ‌targeting a range of ​inflammatory ​diseases, including moderate-to-severe atopic dermatitis and asthma.

(Reporting ​by ‌Padmanabhan Ananthan in ​Bengaluru; Editing by ​Sriraj Kalluvila)