AstraZeneca to buy Amolyt Pharma for $1.05 billion to boost rare-disease portfolio

(Reuters): Drugmaker AstraZeneca said on Thursday it would acquire endocrine diseases-focused firm Amolyt Pharma for $1.05 billion in cash, in a bid to boost its rare diseases portfolio.

France’s Amolyt, backed by investors including Danish drugmaker Novo Nordisk’s parent firm Novo Holdings and EQT Life Sciences, is currently in the late-stage development of a therapy for hypoparathyroidism called eneboparatide.

The deal, which includes an $800 million upfront payment and an additional contingent payment of $250 million on achieving a specified regulatory milestone, is expected to close by the third quarter of 2024.

Revenue from AstraZeneca’s rare diseases portfolio, boosted by the $39 billion acquisition of Alexion in 2021, has swelled in recent years, to nearly $7.8 billion in 2023.

Phase III trial results for eneboparatide are expected next year with a possible launch to follow, Alexion CEO Marc Dunoyer told Reuters in an interview, adding that the therapy had blockbuster potential, or one that could generate over $1 billion in annual sales.

Alexion inked a deal last year to buy U.S. drugmaker Pfizer’s early-stage rare disease gene therapy portfolio for up to $1 billion, plus royalties on sales. It also bought genomic medicines firm LogicBio Therapeutics in 2022.

Over the near decade since AstraZeneca fended off a takeover by its U.S. rival Pfizer, its CEO Pascal Soriot has rebuilt the Anglo-Swedish drugmaker’s pipeline, which includes 13 blockbuster medicines.

Last month, Soriot said it was a “good time” for AstraZeneca to do deals, after a string of acquisitions including a licensing deal late last year that gave it an entry into the booming anti-obesity drug market.