AstraZeneca Announces Acquisition Of All Bristol-Myers Squibb Diabetes Alliance Interests
AstraZeneca announced it has completed acquisition of all Bristol-Myers Squibb’s shares in the companies’ diabetes collaboration. The transaction has been previously announced and took effect on the 1st of February.
The acquisition gives AstraZeneca ownership of Bristol-Myers Squibb’s diabetes business which includes:
- Onglyza® (saxagliptin)
- Kombiglyze™ XR (saxagliptin and metformin HCl extended release)
- Komboglyze™ (saxagliptin and metformin HCl), dapagliflozin (marketed as Forxiga® outside the US and Farxiga® in the US)
- Xigduo™ (dapagliflozin and metformin HCl)
- Byetta® (exenatide)
- Bydureon® (exenatide extended-release for injectable suspension) metreleptin
- Symlin® (pramlintide acetate)
The company acquires intellectual property rights and global rights for development of the diabetes treatments listed above. AstraZeneca also gains rights to manufacture and commercialize Bristol-Myers Squibb’s diabetes treatments.
The potential market for diabetes treatments is huge, with more than 380 million people worldwide affected by the disease in 2013. The number of patients with diabetes is expected to balloon to more than 592 million by 2035. Of all cases of diagnosed diabetes in adults, 85% to 95% are afflicted with Type 2 diabetes.
Bristol-Myers Squibb received approximately $2.7 billion for the closing. The company will also receive a $0.6 billion milestone payment for the recent FDA approval of Farxiga. The acquisition will provide Bristol-Myers Squibb potential regulatory and sales-based milestone payments of up to $0.8 billion, as well as royalty and other asset transfer payments as applies.
Aside from transferring rights of its diabetes drugs, Bristol-Myers Squib will also hand over rights to its former Ohio-based Amylin manufacturing facility and another manufacturing facility located in Mount Vernon, Indiana in a future purchase.
AstraZeneca Chief Executive Officer Pascal Soriot said, “I extend a warm welcome to our new colleagues and I’m delighted with the speed at which we’ve completed the acquisition which reinforces our long-term commitment to patients with diabetes. Under a single leadership, we will maximize the potential of our innovative portfolio of non-insulin anti-diabetic medicines, bringing fresh momentum to our growth ambitions for this franchise.”