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AstraZeneca to purchase rights to Almirall's respiratory franchise

AstraZeneca has agreed to acquire the development and commercialization rights to Almirall’s respiratory franchise, according to a press release.

“Our agreement with Almirall brings strategic and long-term value to AstraZeneca’s strong respiratory franchise, one of our key growth platforms,” Pascal Soriot, chief executive officer of AstraZeneca, said in the release. “By combining our innovative portfolios and leveraging AstraZeneca’s global scientific and commercial capabilities, we will strengthen our ability to address the entire spectrum of care in asthma and COPD.”

The initial payment is $875 million on completion, expected by the end of the year, followed by up to $1.22 billion in development, launch, sales-related goals and various sales-related payments, the release said.

AstraZeneca will own the rights to Barcelona-based Almirall’s existing proprietary respiratory business and its pipeline of investigational novel therapies. They include aclidinium (Eklira); the combination of aclidinium with formoterol (LAS40464), which is under development in the US; abediterol (LAS100977), a once-daily long-acting beta2-agonist in phase 2 testing; and an M3 antagonist beta2-agonist platform in phase 1 development, according to the release.

“The addition of aclidinium and the combination of aclidinium with formoterol … will allow AstraZeneca to offer patients a choice between dry powder inhaler and metered-dose inhaler devices across a range of molecules and combinations,” the release stated.

AstraZeneca also will acquire Almirall Sofotec, a subsidiary focused on developing innovative proprietary devices, according to the release.