October 7, 2016
By Alex Keown, BioSpace.com Breaking News Staff
LONDON – AstraZeneca has struck another deal to divest itself of therapies that are not considered part of the company’s strategic investments. Today the company struck a $330 million deal with Cilag GmbH International, an affiliate of Johnson & Johnson , for rights outside the United States to Rhinocort Aqua.
The $330 million deal will give the J&J subsidiary the nasal spray indicated for allergic and non-allergic rhinitis (inflammation of the inside of the nose), and for the treatment of nasal polyps (swelling of the nasal lining). The active ingredient is the anti-inflammatory medicine budesonide, which is perhaps better known as the asthma drug, Pulmocort.
AstraZeneca said in its statement that it will not retain an ongoing interest in Rhinocort. The Rhinocort deal is expected to be concluded by late 2016.
“This agreement allows us to concentrate our efforts in Respiratory as one of our three strategic therapy areas, on transforming the treatment of asthma and COPD, where budesonide remains a key component of our marketed as well as pipeline medicines,” Mark Mallon, AstraZeneca’s executive vice president for global product and portfolio strategy, said in a statement.
A focus on respiratory drugs has been key to AstraZeneca’s strategy, particularly since the $575 million acquisition of Takeda Pharmaceutical Company ’s core respiratory business, including global rights to roflumilast, a treatment for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). The company is also banking on its new COPD drug, Bevespi Aerosphere, to boost sagging revenue due to stiffer competition from other companies, including GlaxoSmithKline . Earlier this year, AstraZeneca revealed positive results from its Phase III trial of its new asthma drug, benralizumab. The drug demonstrated significant reductions in the annual asthma exacerbation rate compared to placebo. Benralizumab, if approved, will be one more step in AstraZeneca bolstering its respiratory pipeline.
AstraZeneca has made a number of deals in recent weeks to rid itself of drug products and candidates. Earlier this week, the company struck a $150 million deal with Insmed Incorporated for AZD7986, a novel oral inhibitor of dipeptidyl peptidase I. Also this week, AstraZeneca sold the U.S. rights to Toprol-XL and its authorized generic to Canadian-based Aralez for $175 million. Toprol-XL, a cardioselective beta-blocker, is used for the treatment of hypertension alone or in combination with other antihypertensives. On Monday, AstraZeneca struck a $1.5 billion licensing deal with Allergan for MEDI2070, an IL-23 monoclonal antibody that is presently in a Phase IIb trial for moderate-to-severe Crohn’s disease.
