Portola Sued by Investor Readying Challenge to Alexion Deal

Portola Pharmaceuticals Inc. faces a suit in Delaware by an investor seeking to probe suspicions that its board is relying on the coronavirus to force through an underpriced $1.4 billion buyout by Alexion Pharmaceuticals Inc.

“The sale of Portola to Alexion appears to be the product” of “pandemic-driven fear” that “contradicts the confidence Portola management demonstrated in the company’s long-term prospects,” the Chancery Court complaint filed Wednesday says.

The suit accuses Portola’s board of panicking and rushing into the merger after the collapse of talks over a potential European Union license for its top drug, Andexxa, which is used to ...