AstraZeneca
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Dizal Pharmaceutical’s Zegfrovy is approved in the U.S. for locally advanced or metastatic non-small cell lung cancer. For $600 million upfront, AstraZeneca will gain global rights to advance and commercialize the asset.
The failure of AstraZeneca and Ionis’ Wainua in a late-stage study of ATTR-CM casts doubt on Alnylam’s next-generation candidate but is good news for others in the space, including BridgeBio and Intellia Therapeutics.
The late-stage miss is “surprising,” Stifel analysts said, given that Wainua’s mechanism of silencing transthyretin protein expression has previously proven effective.
In AstraZeneca’s third trip to Asia this year, the pharma secured ex-China rights to a dual inhibitor of PDE3 and PDE4, which in a Phase 2b study significantly improved lung function and lowered symptom burden in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disorder.
AstraZeneca and CSPC Pharmaceutical Group have already inked two other agreements this year, including an obesity-focused deal in January and one focused on chronic diseases in June.
Over the past decade, Eli Lilly has bought out more biotechs than any of the other top 12 pharmas by revenue—with 10 of those acquisitions arriving just this year.
AstraZeneca is pushing its small molecule GLP-1 drug to Phase 3 development for weight control, diabetes and other cardiometabolic conditions despite the asset failing to best one from Structure Therapeutics.
An FDA advisory committee recently voted against approving AstraZeneca’s oral SERD drug camizestrant for certain patients with advanced breast cancer. It is unclear when the new target action date for the drug will be.
Baxfendy, the first aldosterone synthase inhibitor to be approved by the FDA for high blood pressure, is among the products AstraZeneca is relying on to hit its 2030 goal of $80 billion in revenue.
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