AstraZeneca (AZN.L) said on Monday it has struck a deal to buy U.S.-based biopharmaceutical firm CinCor Pharma Inc (CINC.O) for up to $1.8 billion to bolster its arsenal of heart and kidney drugs.
Core to the deal is CinCor's experimental therapy baxdrostat, which is in development to treat a range of conditions including high blood pressure and chronic kidney disease.
AstraZeneca is hoping to combine baxdrostat with its own Farxiga, a diabetes drug whose sales have risen sharply after the medicine was also shown to benefit patients with heart failure as well as kidney disease.
Farxiga, whose sales jumped by almost 50% during the first nine months of 2022 to reach $3.2 billion, belongs to a highly competitive class of drugs including from Boehringer Ingelheim and Eli Lilly's Jardiance.
About a third of AstraZeneca's business is based on cancer drugs, but its roster of heart, kidney and diabetes drugs are its second most lucrative unit by sales.
In the first nine months of 2022, the unit generated roughly $6.9 billion of the London-listed drugmaker's more than $33 billion in total revenue.
The Anglo-Swedish drugmaker on Monday said it had agreed to pay $26 per CinCor share in cash, or $1.3 billion in total, a premium of nearly 121% to the stock's closing price on Friday.
The offer also includes a non-tradable contingent value right of $10 per share in cash payable upon a specified regulatory submission of baxdrostat.
Altogether, the offer represents a 206% premium to CinCor's shares close on Friday, Astra added.
