Dive Brief:
- Pfizer will buy AstraZeneca's anti-infective portfolio in a deal potentially worth as much as $1.6 billion, just two days after acquiring the cancer company Medivation in a $14 billion deal.
- Paying $550 million upfront, Pfizer gains development and commercialization rights to three already approved antibiotics and two other experimental agents. AstraZeneca will receive another unconditional payment of $175 million in January 2019 and is eligible for $850 million in milestones.
- The deal is expected to close sometime in the fourth quarter of this year, the companies said in statements released Wednesday.
Dive Insight:
Pfizer, which unsuccessfully tried to buy AstraZeneca two years ago, said the newly acquired products would complement its existing portfolio of over 60 anti-infectives and anti-fungal drugs.
Under the terms of the deal, AstraZeneca will hand over rights (mostly ex-U.S.) to the approved antibiotics Merrem, Zinforo and Zavicefta. Together, Merrem and Zinforo brought in about $250 million in 2015 sales while Zavicefta only recently won approval in the E.U.
Pfizer also picks up two products currently in late-stage testing: ATM-AVI, for treatment of gram-negative bacterial infections, and CXL, a combo of Zinforo and avibactam aimed at gram-positive and gram-negative infections.
The agreement does not include AstraZeneca's more lucrative biologics FluMist and Synagis, however.
By shedding the five drugs, AstraZeneca is trying to narrow its focus on its three main therapy areas in cancer, respiratory and cardiovascular diseases.
Both companies said they don't anticipate any impact from the deal on financial guidance for 2016.
Pfizer has been an active dealmaker since its planned $160 billion merger with Allergan collapsed after the U.S. Treasury released new rules on tax inversions. In May, Pfizer bought Anacor Pharmaceuticals for $5.2 billion, picking up the eczema drug crisaborole.
But the real prize was this week's acquisition of Medivation, which Pfizer snapped up for $14 billion. Pfizer significantly outbid the French drugmaker Sanofi, which had gone public with a roughly $10 billion offer. A number of other pharma companies had reportedly also been looking at buying Medivation.
Medivation's value mostly lies in its share of the profits from the blockbuster prostate cancer drug Xtandi, but the San Francisco company also touted its experimental breast cancer drug talazoparib.
All three deals fall well short of the kind of transformational merger sought by Pfizer execs. CEO Ian Read has recently indicated a decision on a potential split of Pfizer's business units is still expected by the end of 2017, but Pfizer's pursuit of a combination with first AstraZeneca and then Allergan have raised doubts over the company's commitment to breaking up the behemoth company.