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AstraZeneca Buys Stake In Cancer Drug Maker

(c) Sky News 2015

AstraZeneca (NYSE: AZN - news) has announced it is buying a 55% stake in a company developing a treatment for blood cancers.

The British pharmaceutical company will pay $2.5bn (£1.7bn) upfront for the majority share in Dutch and US-based Acerta Pharma.

Acerta's experimental drug, acalabrutinib, has shown some promise in treating leukaemia and auto-immune diseases including lupus.

The New England Journal of Medicine last week published a study into acalabrutinib that showed a 95% response rate in patients with relapsed chronic lymphocytic leukaemia, the most prevalent form of adult leukaemia.

AstraZeneca will pay a further $1.5bn (£1bn) once acalabrutinib gets approval from US regulators, or otherwise by the end of 2018.

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Having rejected a takeover bid by US-based Pfizer (NYSE: PFE - news) last year, AstraZeneca is now rebuilding its portfolio of medicines to combat growing competition from other drug producers.

If it gains approval from shareholders, AstraZeneca will have the option to buy the remainder of Acerta for a figure reported to be $3bn (£2bn) - assuming acalabrutinib's bid for regulatory go-ahead is successful.