AstraZeneca signed $1.5 billion deal with Allergan

8 years ago - Published in Finance, Fundamental Analysis

US drug giant AstraZeneca said on Monday that it has signed a deal with Allergan through its global biologics research and development unit MedImmune, where the latter will pay up to $1.52B for rights to MEDI2070, an antibody for Crohn's disease.

Allergan pays $250mln up front, but it might also make payments worth up to $1.27bln over a period of up to 15 years, tied to potential sales of the antibody, MEDI2070, a treatment that is currently undergoing clinical trials for moderate to severe Crohn’s disease.

Allergan, which is headquartered in Dublin, was in talks to merge with Pfizer last year. Last month Allergan struck a deal to buy liver disease specialist Tobira Therapeutics for $1.7 billion.

David Nicholson, chief R&D officer at Allergan, underlined: “MEDI2070 represents an exciting addition to our Open Science pipeline, adding an important new programme currently being studied in Crohn’s disease, with potential across a number of inflammatory and autoimmune disorders".