AstraZeneca has sold the European rights to its aging beta-blocker heart drug Seloken to Italy’s Recordati for $300 million, as part of a continuing drive by the British drugmaker to spin off non-core assets.
AstraZeneca is using funds from such disposals to help it through an earnings trough caused by patent expiries on former blockbuster medicines, while it waits for a new wave of drugs, particularly for cancer, to deliver fresh growth.
It has described 2017 as a “pivotal” year and AstraZeneca’s head of portfolio strategy Mark Mallon said the deal “allows us to concentrate our resources on bringing multiple new medicines to patients”.
The two companies said on Monday that AstraZeneca would also get tiered royalties from Recordati, initially at a double-digit percentage rate, for European sales of Seloken and related products. These sales totaled $110 million in 2016.
AstraZeneca, which retains rights to the beta-blocker outside Europe, will continue to manufacture and ship product to Recordati under a supply agreement.
The Italian group said acquiring the treatment for high blood pressure, angina and heart failure would allow it to expand into new markets. The acquisition will be funded by existing funds and available credit lines, it added.
By Ben Hirschler
Source: Reuters
At its sprawling complex in Durham, N.C., Merck has opened a new $1 billion, 225,000-square-foot manufacturing plant slated to produce bulk substance for its megablockbuster HPV vaccine Gardasil. Merck built the new plant on the 262-acre campus it has occupied since 2004, where the pharma giant produces a variety of vaccines including shots to prevent chickenpox, measles and rubella.
Indian generic drug maker Sun Pharma agreed to acquire US immunotherapy and targeted oncology company Checkpoint Therapeutics for an upfront value of $355 million. The transaction is expected to be completed in the second quarter of 2025 and is subject to customary closing conditions.
Mallinckrodt Pharmaceuticals and Endo have agreed to merge in a $6.7bn deal, combining two pharmaceutical companies that recently emerged from bankruptcy proceedings tied to opioid litigation. According to the 13 March announcement, the merger will create a “larger, more diversified entity”.
