AstraZeneca strengthens heart and kidney business in $1.8 billion CinCor deal

9 Jan (Reuters) – AstraZeneca (AZN.L) on Monday offered up to $1.8 billion to U.S.-based drug developer Cincole Pharma (CINC.O) to stockpile heart and kidney drugs. announced that it has entered into an agreement to acquire

At the heart of the deal is CinCor’s experimental therapeutic agent baxdrostat, which is being developed to treat conditions such as high blood pressure and chronic kidney disease.

AstraZeneca aims to combine baxdrostat with its proprietary diabetes drug, Forxiga. Sales of Forxiga soared after it was shown to also benefit patients with heart failure and kidney disease.

With sales up nearly 50% to reach $3.2 billion in the first nine months of 2022, Forxiga belongs to a highly competitive drug class that includes rivals such as Boehringer Ingelheim and Eli Lilly’s Jardiance. I’m here.

AstraZeneca derives about one-third of its sales from cancer drugs, but its heart, kidney and diabetes medicines are its second most profitable business by sales, with first Generated approximately $6.9 billion of total pharmaceutical company sales of over $33 billion in three quarters. .

Forxiga and oncology drugs Lynparza and Calkens could face generic competition as early as 2024, analysts at BMO Capital Markets said in a note last week based on their own assumptions and company filings. said by quoting

In theory, the combination of vaxdrostat and Forxiga could allow AstraZeneca to extend the Forxiga franchise, said Mene Pangaros, executive vice president of biopharmaceutical research and development at AstraZeneca.

Trade at a premium of almost 121%

The British and Swedish pharmaceutical companies agreed on Monday to pay $26 per CinCor share, or a total of $1.3 billion, in cash.

The offer also includes the right to a non-tradable contingent value of $10 per share to be paid upon filing the vaxdrostat with the designated regulatory authority.

CinCor’s shares closed at $11.78 on Friday, well below its January 2022 initial public offering price of $16 per share.

“Obviously, biotech companies have been devalued over the past year,” said Pangalos. “Regarding the cost, I think we are very happy with what we have achieved here.”

The Nasdaq Biotechnology Index (.NBI) has fallen about 20% from its August 2021 peak to mid-December. This has led big pharmaceutical companies to seek deals to replenish their pipelines as big sellers near the end of their patent lives.

CinCor’s baxdrostat has extensive experience in treating high blood pressure.

Although successful in a phase II treatment-resistant hypertension trial, the drug failed to outperform placebo in another medium-term trial in patients with uncontrolled hypertension.

AstraZeneca shares fell about 1% in midterm trading on Monday.

Prior to joining CinCor, CEO Marc de Garidel led Corvidia Therapeutics, an AstraZeneca spin-off acquired by Novo Nordisk (NOVOb.CO) for $2.1 billion in 2020.

Garidel is also the chairman (and former CEO) of French pharmaceutical company Ibsen (IPN.PA), which on Monday announced that it will invest in US-based pharmaceutical company Albireo ( ALBO.O) for just under $1 billion.

Additional reporting by Radhika Anilkumar from Bengaluru and Ludwig Burger from Frankfurt.Editing by Susan Fenton, Jason Neely and Barbara Lewis

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