AstraZeneca buys ZS Pharma for $2.7 billion, pips Actelion

The pharmaceutical sector is seeing another changeover, as AstraZeneca announced Friday that it will buy ZS Pharma to strengthen its metabolic disease portfolio. The company presently has an average rating of Hold and a consensus target price of $85.86. They issued a buy rating and a $82.00 price objective for the company.

The $90 dollar (£59) per share deal represents a 42 per cent premium for ZS Pharma shareholders based on Thursday’s closing price. ZS Pharma has a 12-month low of $34.35 and a 12-month high of $89.40. Last week Dublin-based Shire moved to acquire USA firm Dyax for $5.9bn, in a deal which Ropes & Gray‎, Slaughter and May, Davis Polk and Sullivan & Cromwell all advised on. Morgan Stanley started coverage on shares of ZS Pharma in a research note on Thursday, August 13th.

ZS Pharma (NASDAQ:ZSPH) saw unusually-strong trading volume on Monday following a better than expected earnings announcement, MarketBeat.Com reports.

In related news, CFO Todd A. Creech sold 70,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $49.84, for a total transaction of $3,488,800.00. AstraZeneca’s cardiovascular & metabolic disease portfolio now consists of Brilinta/Brilique and Onglyza among other drugs while pipeline candidates include roxadustat (phase III – anemia associated with CKD) and others.

ZS Pharma is in the process of developing hyperkalemia treatments, with one treatment now under review by the FDA If approved, the treatment could produce sales of more than $1 billion per year. The Company’s zirconium silicate technology allows it to create particular ion traps without disturbing the equilibrium of other electrolytes that will reduce toxic levels of specific electrolytes.

AstraZeneca CEO Pascal Soriot said: “Hyperkalaemia can be a life-threatening condition for patients with chronic kidney disease and chronic heart failure, however the risk is underappreciated and prevalence is increasing”.