AstraZeneca buys Spanish lung drugs

AstraZeneca has bolstered its respiratory medicine products by closing a deal worth a reported €1.5 billion for the rights to a range of lung drugs from Spanish pharmaceutical group Almirall.

The British drug firm who recently fought off a near €88 billion takeover by rival Pfizer is to pay an initial €652 million with a further payment of €909 million if the new drugs meet development and sales targets.

The deal bolsters a key therapeutic area for Astra Zeneca in an overall show of strength to let the markets and hostile bidders alike know that they have a secure independent future

Almirall, is a local success story whose shares have strongly outperformed the Spanish market in the past three years and the deal with AstraZeneca will generate valuable resources allowing it to increase its focus on dermatology.

AstraZeneca will have the right to develop and commercialise Almirall’s existing lung drugs – including its recently launched treatment Eklira (aclidinium) – as well as its portfolio of experimental therapies currently in their development pipeline.