Pfizer Inc. agreed to buyAnacor Pharmaceuticals Inc. for $5.2 billion, gaining control of anexperimental treatment for the skin condition known as eczema inits first deal since walking away from a $160 billion takeover of AllerganPlc.

Pfizer will pay $99.25 in cash for each Anacor share, thecompanies said in a statement on Monday, about 55 percent higherthan Friday’s closing price. Anacor’s crisaborole drug, which theU.S. Federal and Drug Administration is scheduled to make adecision on by Jan. 7 for the treatment of mild-to-moderateeczema, could reach annual sales of $2 billion, Pfizer projected,helping bolster its inflammation and immunology group.

Chief Executive Officer Ian Read said this month that Pfizer waslooking to acquire products that are close to hitting the market, whileconsidering a split of the business in the wake of its failed attempt to buyAllergan. The Anacor transaction may be a step closertoward ultimately breaking up the drugmaker, according to JohnBoris, a SunTrust Robinson Humphrey Inc. analyst.

“It’s the first of many transactions that Ian will do,” saidBoris, who rates the shares neutral. “Watching this company, I’mthoroughly convinced they can’t break it up, because it’s too weakto survive on its innovation core, so he has to buy assets to dothat.”

Pfizer’s shares were up less than 1 percent to $33.24 at 11:42a.m. in New York. Anacor jumped 55 percent to $99.43. ThroughFriday, Anacor was down 58 percent from its all-time peak of$152.25 in August 2015.

Flagship asset

About 18 million to 25 million people in the U.S. suffer fromeczema, or atopic dermatitis, whose main symptom is a chronicrash that can last two weeks or more. Anacor also holds the rightsto Kerydin, a treatment for toenail fungus that is commercializedby Novartis AG’s Sandoz in the U.S. and competes with ValeantPharmaceuticals International Inc.’s Jublia. But crisaborole is itsflagship asset.

“It is a strategically well-positioned drug in atopicdermatitis, which is an increasingly competitive market,” saidMorningstar analyst Damien Conover, who has a buy rating on Pfizer.“This is going to be used in mild-to-moderate patients, so thatcould give them a niche of the segment of atopic dermatitis wherethere might be less competition.”

Pfizer has said it will decide by the end of the year whether tobreak up, which could offer tax benefits, and could have thetransaction done by the end of 2017. The drugmaker dropped itsmega-merger with Allergan in April after the U.S. Treasuryannounced rules that would have reduced the tax benefits of thatdeal.

The Anacor deal is scheduled to be completed in the thirdquarter and may start adding to Pfizer’s earnings in 2018. Pfizer’sfinancial advisers were Centerview Partners and GuggenheimSecurities. Citigroup Inc. served as Anacor’s financialadviser.

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