AstraZeneca expands cardiorenal portfolio, snapping up CinCor Pharma

After an active M&A year in 2022, UK pharma major AstraZeneca (LSE: AZN) kicked off 2023 with an agreement to acquire USA-based clinical stage biotech CinCor Pharma (Nasdaq: CINC), in deal that could cost it as much as $1.8 billion.

CinCor investors were thrilled with the news, sending its shares rocketing 134% to $27.59 in pre-market activity this morning.

AstraZeneca says the acquisition will bolster its cardiorenal pipeline by adding CinCor’s candidate drug, baxdrostat (CIN-107), an aldosterone synthase inhibitor (ASI) for blood pressure lowering in treatment-resistant hypertension. Late last year, CinCor reported a Phase II trial miss for the drug as a treatment for people with uncontrolled hypertension taking up to two blood pressure medications at the maximally tolerated doses and the firm’s share  plummeted.