Astellas' buy of Iveric Bio will give it a leadership position on GA, says analyst

3 May 2023

The announcement earlier this week of Japanese pharm major Astellas Pharma (TYO: 4503) $5.9 billion acquisition of US biotech Iveric Bio (Nasdaq: ISEE) has prompted a speedy evaluation comment from GlobalData pharma analyst Prashant Khadayate.

“Astellas mentions blindness and regeneration as one of the five focus areas for research and development. Currently, Astellas pipeline includes cell therapy ASP7317 in Phase I development for geographic atrophy (GA) secondary to age-related macular degeneration, and Stargardt disease,” noted Mr Khadayate.

“With this acquisition, Astellas will quickly get access to Iveric Bio’s lead program, avacincaptad pegol. It is in the pre-registration stage in the US for GA and is expected to get approval in August 2023, becoming the second drug to get approval for this indication. Earlier, in February 2023, Apellis Pharmaceuticals Syfovre (pegcetacoplan) was approved in the US and became the first drug to get approval for GA, he added.

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