(Reuters) -Drugmaker AstraZeneca (NASDAQ:AZN) 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 (CSE:NOVOb)'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 (NASDAQ:ALXN) 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 (NYSE:PFE)'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.