Dive Brief:
- AstraZeneca is selling the rights to a Phase 1 oral dipeptidyl peptidase 1 (DPP-1) inhibitor to Bridgewater, NJ-based Insmed for $30 million upfront and $120 million in clinical, regulatory and commercial milestone payments.
- The British pharma will be eligible to receive tiered royalties on AZD7986 (INS1007) and has the option to negotiate a future commercialization agreement for the drug in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease or asthma.
- Insmed is designing a Phase 2 trial for the drug in non-cystic fibrosis bronchiectasis that is expected to start in early 2017. The pulmonary disorder will be the initial indication Insmed pursues for the drug.
Dive Insight:
AstraZeneca has sold off its third drug in as many days. On Monday, the company announced it was selling its IL-23 monoclonal antibody to Allergan for $250 million upfront and $1.27 billion in potential milestones. That deal was followed the next day with the sale of U.S. rights to branded and authorized generic forms of the beta-blocker Toprol-XL (metoprolol succinate) to Aralez Pharmaceuticals for $175 million upfront and $48 million in milestones.
All told, AstraZeneca will pocket $455 million in upfront monies from this week's deal, with the potential for nearly $1.9 billion in contingent payments.
The company has been trying to re-focus the business over the last year, placing more emphasis on core therapeutic areas like oncology, respiratory, cardio-metabolic and autoimmune diseases.
In doing so, AstraZeneca has pursued an active externalization strategy, shedding numerous non-core assets to bridge the gap between declining revenue from older drugs and potential growth from new medicines.
While defending from a hostile takever bid by Pfizer two years ago, AstraZeneca CEO Pascal Soriot set a lofty goal of hitting $45 billion in annual revenues by 2023. That goal always seemed a bit optimistic, but it has begun to look completely out of reach.
And AstraZeneca's ability to hit it took a major blow this week, when the drugmaker's blood thinner Brilinta failed a trial in peripheral artery disease. Coming six months after another trial setback in March, the British drugmaker conceded Brilinta likely won't hits its original annual revenue goal of $3.5 billion, according to Reuters.