AstraZeneca strikes $1 billion deal for rare-disease drug maker

By Steve Goldstein

AstraZeneca to buy Amolyt Pharma

AstraZeneca on Thursday struck a $1 billion deal to buy a maker of drug for rare diseases, further building out the capabilities it acquired in the 2021 deal for Alexion Pharmaceuticals.

AstraZeneca (AZN) (UK:AZN) said it's paying $800 million upfront plus a contingent payment of $250 million for Amolyt Pharma, a French biotechnology company focused on developing novel treatments for rare endocrine diseases.

Amolyt has a Phase III investigational therapeutic peptide designed to meet key therapeutic goals for a disease called hypoparathyroidism, where the parathyroid glands produce too little parathyroid hormone. AstraZeneca said it is one of the largest known rare diseases, affecting an estimated 115,000 people in the United States and 107,000 people in the European Union, approximately 80% of whom are women.

In 2021, AstraZeneca completed its cash-and-stock acquisition of Alexion, which focuses on the rare-disease market.

Amolyt has several venture capital investors, including Novo Holdings , the controlling shareholder of Novo Nordisk (DK:NOVO.B).

AstraZeneca shares were steady in early London trade,

-Steve Goldstein

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03-14-24 0450ET

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