The week in pharma: action, reaction and insight – week to March 22, 2024

By Barbara Obstoj-Cardwell. Editor

On the M&A front last week, UK pharma major AstraZeneca announced an agreement to acquire Canadian radiopharma company Fusion Pharmaceuticals for $2 billion upfront and a further $400 million contingent. Crinetics Pharmaceuticals released new Phase III data on its investigational drug paltusotine in acromegaly. Japanese drugmaker Kyowa Kirin’s subsidiary Orchard Therapeutics set out US launch plans for its newly Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved rare disease cell therapy Lenmeldy with a list price of $4.25 million. Also of note, on the regulatory front, Japan’s largest drugmaker Takeda gained an expanded indication for its Iclusig for leukemia.

Radiopharma stays hot with Fusion acquisition