AstraZeneca acquires oncology-focused biotech firm

15th Oct 2013 07:01

AstraZeneca's biologics research and development arm, MedImmune, has acquired Spirogen, a privately-held biotech company focused on antibody-drug conjugate technology for use in oncology.The drugs giant said MedImmune has also entered into a collaboration agreement with ADC Therapeutics to jointly develop two of the latter's antibody-drug conjugate programmes in preclinical development. MedImmune will also make an equity investment in ADC Therapeutics, which has an existing licensing agreement with Spirogen. MedImmune will acquire all of Spirogen's shares for an initial consideration of $200m and deferred consideration of up to $240m based on reaching predetermined development milestones. Existing out-licensing agreements and associated revenue streams are excluded from this acquisition. "Antibody-drug conjugates are ground-breaking technologies with the potential for directly targeting many types of cancer tumours while safeguarding healthy cells. The cutting-edge technologies developed by Spirogen and ADC Therapeutics complement MedImmune's innovative antibody engineering capabilities, enabling us to accelerate antibody-drug conjugates into the clinic," said Dr. Bahija Jallal, Executive Vice President of MedImmune. NR