BioCentury
ARTICLE | Company News

AstraZeneca, Merck deal

March 8, 2010 8:00 AM UTC

AstraZeneca will exercise an option to acquire Merck's interest in four AstraZeneca drugs for $647 million. The four marketed products are Atacand candesartan cilexetil to treat hypertension and heart failure; Lexxel enalapril/felodipine ER and Plendil felodipine to treat hypertension; and Entocort budesonide to treat Crohn's disease. The option also includes Merck's interest in Brilinta ticagrelor ( AZD6140), a reversible adenosine diphosphate (ADP) receptor (P2Y12) antagonist, for which AstraZeneca submitted an NDA in November for acute coronary syndrome (ACS); lesogaberan (AZD3355), a GABA B agonist in Phase II testing to treat gastroesophageal reflux disease; AZD2327, an enkephalinergic receptor modulator in Phase II testing to treat anxiety and depression; and AZD6765, a NMDA receptor antagonist in Phase II testing to treat major depression. Development of AZD0328, a selective neuronal nicotinic receptor agonist previously included in the agreement, was discontinued in 2009. The products are part of the companies' JV, AstraZeneca L.P., which markets AstraZeneca's drugs in the U.S. (see BioCentury, March 3, 2008).

The option exercise gives AstraZeneca a second option to purchase Merck's interest in the JV's remaining two marketed drugs, proton pump inhibitors (PPIs) Prilosec omeprazole and Nexium esomeprazole, starting in 2012. If AstraZeneca exercises the second option, the JV would effectively be terminated. ...