Sanofi to buy AstraZeneca’s cancer drug for upto $300 mn

Now the drug is in Phase III development for differentiated thyroid carcinoma.

Sanofi’s Genzyme unit will pay $165 million for Caprelsa, and it agreed to make another $135 million in milestone payments based on regulatory development and sales targets.

In a major divestment move AstraZeneca has decided to transfer the global rights to sell and develop Caprelsa to Genzyme – a deal that will see the former net $300 million.

“The addition of Caprelsa represents a strong strategic fit for our rare Endocrinology portfolio and underscores Genzyme’s commitment to addressing unmet needs in the thyroid community”, said David Meeker, M.D., Genzyme’s President and CEO. He goes on to say, “We look forward to bringing our rare disease expertise to appropriate patients with advanced stage thyroid carcinoma”.

AstraZeneca during early days of July also made another similar deal to even its short-term revenue gap by divesting a gastrointestinal medicine for nearly $215 million, according to Reuters.

The drug, Caprelsa is known as an oral kinase inhibitor treatment which is now available in at least 28 countries.

The deal is subject to closing conditions that include the receipt of antitrust clearance from the Federal Trade Commission. AstraZeneca said the transaction does not impact its financial guidance for 2015.

AstraZeneca, which stated the transaction was anticipated to full within the second half of 2015 and wouldn’t impression its monetary forecasts for the yr, stated Caprelsa was higher suited for a rare illness specialist reminiscent of Genzyme.