The $39bn deal, announced in December 2020, is AstraZeneca’s largest ever acquisition: allowing it to move further into immunology with an enhanced scientific presence, and giving it Alexion’s lead medicine soliris (eculizumab), among four other approved medicines and a pipeline of 11 molecules.
AstraZeneca predicts Alexion will deliver double-digit average annual revenue growth through 2025: highlighting rare diseases as a high-growth therapy area with rapid innovation and significant unmet medical need.
The acquisition passed the final regulatory hurdle last week, getting the green light from the UK Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) after gathering approvals from other markets over the past months (including in the US, EU, Japan, South Korea, Israel among others).
Pascal Soriot, CEO, AstraZeneca, said the acquisition marks a new chapter for the company that will augment growth for years to come.
“Our sustained R&D investment in oncology, cardiovascular and renal, as well as respiratory and immunology, has powered AstraZeneca’s transformation and now we add rare diseases, where fewer approved treatment options exist.”
Marc Dunoyer, incoming CEO, Alexion and Chief Financial Officer, AstraZeneca, said: “We look forward to also applying Alexion’s complement-biology platform across areas of AstraZeneca’s broader early stage pipeline and, significantly, to the extraordinary opportunity to extend existing and future rare disease medicines to patients in many countries where AstraZeneca already has a strong presence.”