Astrazeneca buys Alphacore Pharma

ASTRAZENECA boosted its early-stage pipeline of experimental heart drugs yesterday by buying privately held US company AlphaCore Pharma, which is developing a new type of cholesterol medicine.

The deal shows AstraZeneca’s new CE, Pascal Soriot, taking on more scientific risks by betting on a new and still unproven approach to cardiovascular medicine.

Financial details of the acquisition by the British drug maker’s MedImmune unit were not disclosed but the amount paid would have been modest, since AstraZeneca was not obliged to disclose it as a material investment.

Last month it revealed it paid $240m upfront to Moderna Therapeutics to gain access to its know-how in manipulating ribo-

CE plans to build up the firm’s sparse drug pipeline by striking more deals with outside partners to restock its portfolio

nucleic acid, which helps to create proteins inside cells — another example of Mr Soriot placing a bet on new science. He has stated that he plans to build up the company’s sparse drug pipeline by striking more deals with outside partners as he tries to restock its product portfolio following a wave of patent expiries.

Cardiovascular and metabolic disease — one of three core therapy areas for AstraZeneca, along with oncology and respiratory or inflammation — is a particular priority, since the company has few experimental compounds for such conditions.

AlphaCore will help to plug the gap, although it will not deliver any marketable products for many years. Its leading drug candidate ACP-501, a genetically engineered liver-derived enzyme called LCAT, only completed phase one clinical tests last year.

Drugs need to go through three phases of lengthy tests before being approved for sale.

The hope is that ACP-501 will help in the management of cholesterol to reduce the risk of heart attacks and strokes.

MedImmune head Bahija Jallal said the result could be new combination or standalone therapies for patients with chronic and acute cardiovascular diseases.

In the past, AstraZeneca has been relatively cautious about exploring new drug approaches, but Mr Soriot, who joined from Roche last October, has signalled a change of direction. He complained last month that AstraZeneca had lost some of its scientific confidence. “Smart risk taking is part of how you run an innovation business. There is no innovation without risk,” he said.

Mr Soriot has embarked on a major restructuring of the group, which will cost $2.3bn and involve shedding one in 10 jobs. He aims to have a more focused drugresearch machine, that is better placed to tap into cutting-edge science. AstraZeneca believes it can double the number of drugs in late-stage development by 2016, from just six today.

Industry analysts believe AstraZeneca could spend $20bn on acquisitions and there has been speculation of a large deal. Mr Soriot, however, favours bolt-on deals and has said a major buy is possible, but unlikely. Reuters