AstraZeneca share price: Pharmco sells rights to anaesthetics portfolio

AstraZeneca (LON:AZN) has inked yet another ‘externalisation’ deal, agreeing to sell the rights to its anaesthetics portfolio outside the US for up to $770 million (£532 million). The disposal, which is part of the pharmco’s strategy to focus on several core areas to drive growth, comes after the Anglo-Swedish drugmaker recently offloaded the rights to its gout drug lesinurad.

AstraZeneca’s share price has been subdued in London this morning, having shed 0.84 percent to stand at 6,247.60p as of 09:46 BST. The decline is in line with losses in the broader market, with the blue-chip FTSE 100 index having dropped 0.88 percent to 6,246.23 points. The pharmco’s shares have lost nearly six percent of their value over the past year, and are down more than 13 percent in the year-to-date.

AstraZeneca announced in a statement this morning that it had entered into a commercialisation agreement with Aspen for rights to its global anaesthetics portfolio outside the US. Under the terms of the deal, the South African group will pay AstraZeneca an upfront consideration of $520 million, as well as up to $250 million in a product sales-related payment, and double-digit percentage trademark royalties on product sales.
The Anglo-Swedish group’s chief executive officer Pascal Soriot commented in the statement that the transaction supported the group’s “strategic focus on the new medicines in three main therapy areas”. AstraZeneca, which fended off a £69-billion approach from US pharma giant Pfizer about two years ago, has bet on oncology, respiratory, inflammation and autoimmunity, and cardiovascular and metabolic diseases to fuel growth as it faces pressure from cheaper generics on some of its top-selling drugs.
Earlier this month, AstraZeneca sold the European and Latin American rights to its new gout drug lesinurad, following a similar disposal of the group’s US rights to the treatment in April.
As of 10:25 BST, Thursday, 09 June, AstraZeneca plc share price is 3,983.75p.