M&A

AstraZeneca has announced that it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Fusion Pharmaceuticals for an approximate $2bn. This acquisition forms part of AstraZeneca’s goal to ‘transform cancer treatment and outcomes for patients by replacing traditional regimens like chemotherapy and radiotherapy with more targeted treatments’, according to the press release.

Fusion Pharmaceuticals has a focus on the development of next-generation radioconjugates (RC s), which have recently emerged as a promising development in cancer treatment. Its most advanced programme, FPI-2265 is a potential treatment for patients with metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer (mCR PC), which is currently in a phase 2 trial.

It is expected that Fusion Pharmaceuticals will become a wholly owned subsidiary of AstraZeneca, with operations expected to continue in Canada and the US.

Susan Galbraith, executive vice president of Oncolog y R&D at AstraZeneca, commented: “Between 30-50% of patients with cancer today receive radiotherapy at some point during treatment, and the acquisition of Fusion furthers our ambition to transform this aspect of care with next-generation radioconjugates. Together with Fusion, we have an opportunity to accelerate the development of FPI-2265 as a potential new treatment for prostate cancer, and to harness their innovative actinium-based platform to develop radioconjugates as foundational regimens.”

John Valliant, chief executive officer at Fusion, added: “This acquisition combines Fusion’s expertise and capabilities in radioconjugates, including our industr y-leading radiopharmaceutical R&D, pipeline, manufacturing and actinium-225 supply chain, with AstraZeneca’s leadership in small molecules and biologics engineering to develop novel radioconjugates. Expanding on our existing collaboration with AstraZeneca where we have advanced FPI-2068, an EGFR-cMET targeted radioconjugate into phase 1 clinical trials, gives us a unique opportunity to accelerate the development of next-generation radioconjugates with the aim of transforming patient outcomes.”