AstraZeneca buys biotech firm KuDOS

AstraZeneca buys biotech firm KuDOS

	Published : Sun, 25 Dec 2005 08:05 By : David Simms Print this Story

LONDON: Anglo-Swedish AstraZeneca Plc., is buying London-based privately-owned biotech firm KuDOS Pharmaceuticals for 121 million pounds, in an effort to enlarge its product pipeline and consolidate its position in the cancer drug segment.

AstraZeneca had already concluded a $1 billion deal Thursday with U.S. company AtheroGenics to develop the latter's anti-inflammatory cardiovascular drug AGI-1067, a third late-stage phase III product. Earlier this month, it had tied up with another British biotech company Protherics to develop CytoFab, a treatment for severe infections.

The all cash deal to acquire KuDOS, which is expected to complete early next year, will help AstraZeneca to gain lost grounds in cancer treatment, after its lung cancer drug Iressa failed. It had another setback when U.S. regulators rejected its experimental blood thinner drug Exanta.

KuDOS is founded by Stephen Jackson, a Cambridge University professor. Its pioneering work has been in the field of cancer cure based on the inhibition of DNA repair process. These inhibitors have the capacity to destroy cancer cells and are used either as therapy or as an enhancer for chemotherapy and radium treatment. One of its compounds, called KU 59436, is in initial Phase 1 clinical development and targeted at patients with breast and ovarian cancer.

The acquisition will help AstraZeneca, Europe's third-biggest drug maker, to get access to technologies used in investigating enzymes. The company said it would develop KuDOS into a hub for DNA repair and discovery activities, making it part of its global cancer and Infection research area.

Investment funds including Advent Venture Partners, BankInvest Biomedical Venture, Euclid SR Partners, Johnson & Johnson Development Corp., Life Science Partners, 3i and SV Life Sciences are the investors in KuDOS. The company employs 75 staff at its two sites.

David Brennan, who is taking over as chief executive of AstraZeneca on 1 January, had said he has plans to acquire new products and companies to rebuilds its pipeline.