AstraZeneca (AZ) has announced that its rare disease unit, Alexion, will pay $1bn to acquire Pfizer’s early-stage gene therapy portfolio.
The deal includes a number of novel adeno-associated virus capsids, which have been shown to be an effective mechanism for delivering therapeutic gene cargos for gene therapy and gene editing.
The new resources will build on AZ’s capabilities in genomic medicine, the company said, adding that the unit is also set to welcome Pfizer staff associated with the portfolio.
The transaction, which will also see Pfizer receive tiered royalties on sales of any resulting products, is expected to close in the third quarter of this year.
Marc Dunoyer, chief executive officer, Alexion, AstraZeneca Rare Disease, said: “[The] announcement represents another major step forward in Alexion and AZ’s ambition to be an industry leader in genomic medicine, which has potential to be transformative and even curative for patients with devastating diseases.
“We look forward to continuing our work to develop enhanced platforms and technologies with broad therapeutic application while integrating best-in-class expertise to accelerate promising therapeutics into the clinic.”
There are more than 7,000 known rare diseases, of which around 80% are believed to be caused by a genetic mutation. Genomic medicines are designed to treat or cure these diseases by addressing the malfunctioning gene through addition, alteration or inactivation.
AZ has been gradually strengthening its capabilities in genomic medicine. Last year, it acquired US-based gene therapy developer LogicBio Therapeutics for $68m.
The deal gave the company access to in vivo gene-editing platform, GeneRide, which offers a new approach to precise gene insertion.
Dunoyer said at the time of the announcement: “LogicBio’s people, experience and platforms provide new scientific capabilities by adding best-in-class technology and expertise to our genomic medicine strategy.
“The scientific collaboration between Alexion and AZ has been a substantial area of focus […] and the addition of LogicBio will expand this foundational work.”
AZ also recently became one of the five founding members of the Alliance for Genomic Discovery, a project aimed at accelerating therapeutic development and expanding the diversity of genomic data.
The company, along with AbbVie, Amgen, Bayer and Merck, will now co-fund the whole-genome sequencing of 250,000 samples and have access to the resulting data for use in drug discovery and therapeutic development.
