Astrazeneca in $400m deal for Parkinson’s treatment

ASTRAZENECA has struck a deal worth up to $400m (£309m) to sell rights to a promising treatment for Parkinson’s disease, as the FTSE 100 giant presses ahead with offloading non-core drug assets to raise funds for its priority pipeline in areas such as cancer.

The British firm has agreed a commercial tie-up with Japanese drugs company Takeda, under which the two companies will jointly develop the antibody therapy MEDI1341 for degenerative neurological conditions including Parkinson’s. It will enter Phase One clinical trials later this year. The tie-up is the latest of a string of deals by Astrazeneca this summer to raise funds for its core areas, including selling the commercial rights to migraine treatment Zomig and beta-blocker Seloken, raking in a combined £450m.

Astrazeneca, led by chief executive Pascal Soriot, has been prioritising areas including finding cures for cancer and heart disease, whereas Takeda is a neuroscience specialist. Takeda will pay Astrazeneca up to $400m and thereafter the firms will equally share future development and commercialisation costs, as well as future revenues. Astrazeneca will work on Phase One development, with Takeda leading on clinical development.

Astrazeneca has separately agreed a deal with Boston-based Berg to use artificial intelligence in the search for Parkinson’s disease treatments.

The firm has also received approval from US regulators for expanded use of its breast cancer drug Faslodex. The news is a boost to Astrazeneca’s oncology business, after a bad initial readout from a lung cancer drug trial wiped £10bn from its market value in a single day last month. Astrazeneca shares closed down 7p at £44.92.