29th Mar 2019 18:25
LONDON (Alliance News) - AstraZeneca PLC said Friday afternoon it has completed a placing of 44.4 million shares at GBP60.50 each raising GBP2.69 billion, or USD3.5 billion.
The placing price represents a 1.5% discount to Astra's middle market price when the company and joint bookrunners Goldman Sachs International and Morgan Stanley & Co agreed the price. Shares in Astra closed down 5.6% Friday at GBP61.35.
The 44.4 million shares represent about 3.5% of the company's issued share capital. The shares are expected to be admitted to London's Main Market on Tuesday. Following admission, Astra will have 1.31 billion shares in issue.
Earlier Friday, the FTSE 100-liste pharma firm said the equity placing is part of a USD6.9 billion collaboration agreement with Daiichi Sankyo Co Ltd.
The global development and commercialisation agreement covers the potential cancer treatment trastuzumab deruxtecan.
Under the agreement's terms, Astra will make an upfront USD1.35 billion payment to Daiichi Sankyo, half due on execution and half 12 months later, followed by contingent payments of as much as USD5.55 billion for a total of up to USD6.90 billion.
Of the USD5.55 billion, USD3.80 billion will be paid out to the Japanese company for regulatory milestones and USD1.75 billion will be for sales-related milestones.
The upfront USD1.35 billion payment and near-term milestones are to be covered by a new equity placing to raise approximately USD3.50 billion - more than half of which will be used to fund the transaction and ongoing collaboration.
The two pharma majors will work together to develop and commercialise trastuzumab deruxtecan worldwide, with the exception of Japan where Daiichi Sankyo retains exclusive rights.
At present, trastuzumab deruxtecan is being developed as a treatment for cancers expressing the HER2 protein, which is known to be associated with cancers such as breast cancer and gastric cancer, as well as for patients with a HER2-low expression.
The US Food & Drug Administration granted a breakthrough therapy designation to trastuzumab deruxtecan in 2017 as a treatment for advanced breast cancer.
The first regulatory submission for the drug is scheduled to occur in the second half of 2019 in patients with advanced or recurring breast cancer. It is also being developed as a potential treatment for non-small cell lung cancer, as well as for gastric and colorectal cancers.
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