Dive Brief:
- In a deal that could be worth more than $300 million, privately-owned company TerSera Therapeutics has picked up U.S. and Canadian rights to AstraZeneca's Zoladex (goserelin acetate implant).
- AstraZeneca will get $250 million upon deal completion — which is expected in the first quarter of 2017 —along with quarterly royalties in the mid-teens and up to $70 million in milestone payments.
- AstraZeneca will retain rights outside the U.S. and Canada, and there will be no transfer of employees or facilities to TerSera.
Dive Insight:
AstraZeneca has spent the last year or so refining its portfolio and increasing its focus on what it calls 'new oncology,' cardiovascular disease and respiratory disease. The realignment is aimed to set AstraZeneca up for a future without its once top-selling statin Crestor (rosuvastatin).
In the meantime, the British pharma has been selling off older and non-core assets in an attempt to prop up revenues.
The latest sale divests one of the company's older cancer products, Zoladex (goserelin acetate implant), first approved in the U.S. and Canada in 1989. Zoladex is an injectable treatment for prostate cancer, breast cancer and certain benign gynecological disorders. The drug had North American sales of $69 million last year and its patent expires in 2021.
The sale means that AstraZeneca can continue to glean value from the drug in the U.S. and Canada, while reaping externalization revenue to fund its focus on newer oncology agents in development and on the market.
"This agreement allows us to retain a significant share of the value of Zoladex in the US and Canada, while concentrating our resources on our innovative new oncology medicines." said Mark Mallon, Global Product & Portfolio Strategy head at AstraZeneca.