 Sanofi SA NASDAQ: SNY will acquire Principia Biopharma Inc NASDAQ: PRNB for 3.68 billion in cash, the two companies announced Monday.What Happened Under the agreement, the French drugmaker will purchase all of Principias outstanding shares at 100 each, in cash. The boards of the two companies have given their approval for the transaction, the drugmakers said.The two companies have been cooperating on autoimmune diseases, specifically, a multiple sclerosis treatment termed BTK inhibitor 168, since 2017.Full ownership of our brain-penetrant BTK inhibitor 168 removes complexities for this priority development program and simplifies future commercialization, Sanofi CEO Paul Hudson said in a statement.The Paris-based drugmaker expects to close the deal by the end of this year.Why It Matters Sanofis acquisition of Principia Biopharma would allow the latter to leverage BTK inhibitors for targeting specific organs, according to the San Francisco-based companys CEO Martin Babler.In late July, Sanofi SA reached an agreement with GlaxoSmithKline plc NYSE: GSK to supply the United Kingdom with 60 million doses of their jointly-developed COVID-19 vaccine. The companies expect a regulatory approval for the vaccine candidate in the first half of 2021, pending positive clinical data. Separately, Sanofi is also collaborating with Translate Bio, Inc NASDAQ: TBIO for the development of an RNA vaccine candidate. Price Action Sanofi shares closed nearly 2 lower at 50.33 on Friday and gained almost 0.2 in the after-hours. Principia shares closed almost 1.1 lower at 90.74 the same day.Photo courtesy: Sanofi SA via FlickrSee more from Benzinga Novavax To Supply 60M Coronavirus Vaccine Doses To UK Under New Deal GlaxoSmithKline Gets FDA Approval For Blood Cancer DrugC 2020 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved. 