AstraZeneca buys vaccine specialist Icosavax for as much as $1.1bn
- This buy would be the FTSE 100 Anglo-Swedish agency’s first vaccine firm
AstraZeneca has expanded its rising vaccine enterprise with the takeover of US developer Icosavax.
The deal will see the FTSE 100 Anglo-Swedish agency pay as much as $1.1billion (£875million) for the respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) specialist, reflecting a 91 per cent premium to Icosavax’s closing market worth on Monday.
Icosavax is growing a mixture vaccine candidate concentrating on RSV and human metapneumovirus (hMPV).
The deal will see the FTSE 100 Anglo-Swedish agency pay as much as $1.1billion (round £875million) for vaccine specialist, Icosavax
RSV is a number one reason for pneumonia in toddlers and the aged, whereas hMPV causes very comparable respiratory tract infections.
The money deal geared toward bolstering the pharmaceutical large’s pipeline values US-listed Icosavax at $15 a share, plus as much as $5 a share if sure milestones are met.
The upfront cost by AstraZeneca represents a premium of about 43 per cent to Icosavax’s final shut.
Shares in Icosavax rose 45 per cent to $15.25 in US premarket buying and selling.
The acquisition is predicted to shut within the first quarter of 2024.
Iskra Reic, govt vp, vaccines & immune therapies of AstraZeneca, stated: ‘This virus-like particle vaccine know-how has the potential to remodel prevention towards extreme infectious ailments, together with RSV and hMPV.
‘With the addition of Icosavax’s Phase III-ready lead asset to our late-stage pipeline, we could have a differentiated, superior investigational vaccine, and a platform for additional growth of mixture vaccines towards respiratory viruses.
‘This aligns with our technique to ship a portfolio of therapies to handle excessive unmet wants in infectious ailments, and our ambition to guard essentially the most weak sufferers who’ve excessive threat of extreme outcomes.’
The potential mixture vaccine would add to AstraZeneca’s present RSV portfolio, which incorporates Beyfortus, a drug developed together with Sanofi and could possibly be the Cambridge-based agency’s first RSV vaccine.
Last month, AstraZeneca revealed that gross sales of oncology medicines jumped by 17 per cent to $4.39billion following a bump in orders of Imfinzi, which helps goal lung and gallbladder most cancers, and Calquence, a serious therapy for non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma.
At the identical time, revenues from cardiovascular, renal and metabolic medicine climbed by $335million to simply underneath $7.9billion, with development pushed by kind 2 diabetes treatment Farxiga.
Together with a big increase in uncommon illness drugs orders, this offset gross sales of its Covid-19 vaccine – Vaxzeveria – remaining at zero for the second successive quarter amid an absence of lockdown restrictions.
Icosavax CEO Adam Simpson stated: ‘We imagine it (the deal) presents the chance to speed up, and increase entry to, our potential first-in-class mixture vaccine for older adults in danger from RSV and hMPV.’
Commenting on the deal, senior healthcare analyst at Citeline Daniel Chancellor stated: ‘The acquisition is extra symbolic than transformational for its vaccine enterprise – it’s exhibiting continued dedication to an infectious ailments legacy that was created throughout COVID, however its core enterprise may be very a lot going to stay in oncology, cardiometabolic, immunology and uncommon ailments.’
AstraZeneca shares rose by 1.47 per cent to 10,244p in afternoon buying and selling on Tuesday.
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