AstraZeneca seals respiratory deal

AstraZeneca, which itself was embroiled in a number of takeover attempts from rival company Pfizer this year, today confirmed it had entered into an agreement with Almirall for the rights to the Spanish company’s respiratory franchise.

The deal, which is worth an estimated £517 million ($875m), could eventually rise by a further £708 million ($1.2bn) depending on whether the lung drugs meet various development and sales targets.

“Chronic respiratory disease affects hundreds of millions of people around the world

AZ CEO Pascal Soriot

Today’s deal comes little more than a week after US drugs firm AbbVie announced it had acquired pharmaceutical company Shire in a deal worth approximately £32 billion.

Once the transaction has been finalised, AstraZeneca will own the rights for the development and commercialisation of Almirall’s existing proprietary respiratory business.

According to a statement released this morning, this includes rights to revenues from Almirall’s existing partnerships, as well as its pipeline of investigational novel therapies.

Subject to local consultation and legislation, it is likely a significant number of employees dedicated to the respiratory business, including Almirall Sofotec employees, will transfer to AstraZeneca, the company has confirmed.

AstraZeneca chief executive officer Pascal Soriot said: “Chronic respiratory disease affects hundreds of millions of people around the world. By combining our innovative portfolios and leveraging AstraZeneca’s global scientific and commercial capabilities, we will strengthen our ability to address the entire spectrum of care in asthma and COPD.”

Both companies anticipate the transaction will be finalised prior to the start of 2015.