AstraZeneca nabs Amplimmune for $500 million

In a further bid to expand its ailing research portfolio, Anglo-Swedish drug major AstraZeneca (LSE: AZN) yesterday (August 26) announced that its US subsidiary MedImmune has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Amplimmune, a privately-held, Maryland, USA-based biotech company focused on developing novel therapeutics in cancer immunology.

Under the terms of the accord, MedImmune will acquire 100% of Amplimmune’s shares for an initial consideration of $225 million and deferred consideration of up to $275 million based on reaching predetermined development milestones, for a total of $500 million. The proposed transaction is subject to customary regulatory approvals and is expected to close in the third quarter of 2013.

The acquisition will bolster MedImmune’s oncology pipeline by obtaining multiple early-stage assets for its immune-mediated cancer therapy (IMT-C) portfolio, including AMP-514, an anti-programmed cell death 1 (PD-1) monoclonal antibody (MAb). AMP-514 is currently in late-stage pre-clinical development with the aim of an investigational new drug (IND) filing before the end of 2013. Other Amplimmune assets include multiple preclinical molecules targeting the B7 pathways. MedImmune’s oncology research is focused on IMT-C, a promising therapeutic approach that may lead to durable and prolonged response rates across a range of cancer types. IMT-Cs are being designed to empower the immune system to counteract the tactics employed by cancer cells to avoid detection and attack the body.