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AstraZeneca already partners with Bristol-Myers on diabetes
02/07/2012
Bristol-Myers buys Amylin for US$5.3bn
Will work with AstraZeneca to develop drugs
Richard Jansen
BRISTOL-MYERS SQUIBB is set to buy drug company Amylin for around US$5.3bn, snapping up its range of leading diabetes treatments.
The deal will add Byetta and Bydureon to Bristol-Myers’ portfolio of diabetes drugs, and will help secure the company’s position in the multi-billion dollar market for treating the condition, which it says affects around 280m people worldwide.
“We are pleased to be able to strengthen the portfolio we have built to help patients with diabetes by building on the success Amylin has had with its GLP-1 franchise,” says Lamberto Andreotti, CEO of Bristol-Myers.
The US-based company also struck a deal with AstraZeneca, which will pay US$3.4bn for the right to co-develop Amylin’s products. AstraZeneca already has a partnership with Bristol-Myers to collaborate on diabetes treatments.
AstraZeneca interim CEO Simon Lowth says that the deal is fully in line with the company’s efforts to strengthen its late-stage drug pipeline. Collaborating with Bristol-Myers Squibb is, he adds, “another important step… in the treatment of a disease with growing unmet medical need that is reaching epidemic proportions in many areas of the world.”
Along with its range of diabetes treatments, the deal will also give Bristol-Myers control of Amylin’s sterile production facility in Ohio, US.
The deal is expected to be completed by the end of July.
