AstraZeneca buys cancer specialist
pharmafile | August 27, 2013 | News story | Research and Development, Sales and Marketing | Amplimmune, AstraZeneca, Cancer, MedImmune
AstraZeneca’s biologics arm MedImmune is to buy a private US firm specialising in the development of cancer therapies for an upfront payment of £225 million.
Maryland-based Amplimmune could also be in line to make another $275 million if it reaches certain agreed milestones – the deal is expected to close in the third quarter of 2013.
MedImmune is particularly interested in Amplimmune’s immune-mediated cancer therapy (IMT-C) products, which are designed to help the body’s immune system to fight back against cancer cells.
Amplimmune’s pipeline includes AMP-514, an anti-programmed cell death 1 (PD-1) monoclonal antibody (mAb), which is in late-stage pre-clinical development and which the companies hope will gain an investigational new drug (IND) filing before the end of the year.
The firm has two other major biologic product candidates: AMP-224, which is in Phase 1b trials in cancer, and AMP-110 for autoimmune diseases in partnership with Daiichi Sankyo.
“MedImmune’s focus on harnessing the power of the patient’s own immune system to fight cancer will be complemented by Amplimmune’s innovative work in this area,” explained Bahija Jallal, MedImmune’s executive vice president.
“It will allow us to strengthen our arsenal of potential cancer therapies,” Jallal added.
Oncology is a core therapy area for AstraZeneca as part of its recent global R&D restructure and MedImmune has tremelimumab, anti-OX40 mAb and MEDI-4736 (anti-PD-L1 mAb) in clinical development.
“Both companies are passionate about developing new cancer therapies for patients and are excited about the potential of immunotherapies,” said Michael Richman, Amplimmune’s chief executive.
Amplimmune also has preclinical molecules targeting the B7 pathways.
MedImmune has been an active deal maker this year, buying private US biotech firm AlphaCore, whose main asset is ACP-501, a recombinant human lecithin-cholesterol acyltransferase (LCAT) enzyme.
LCAT is thought to be a major influence in driving the removal of cholesterol from the body, which means it could be important in managing HDL or ‘good’ cholesterol.
The AstraZeneca subsidiary also signed an agreement with San Francisco-based NGM biopharmaceuticals to discover novel therapeutics to treat type 2 diabetes and obesity.
MedImmune is concentrating on NGM’s enteroendocrine cell (EEC) programme, finding hormones which the companies believe could provide first-in-class peptide and antibody drug candidates offering a new treatment option in managing glucose.
Adam Hill
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