British pharmaceutical giant, AstraZeneca is to buy biological therapeutics company, Cambridge Antibody Technology (CAT), UK, for £702 million ($1.32 billion).
CAT’s Board of Directors have given the transaction the green light. CAT is at the forefront of developing new drugs by looking at gene sequences.
Last Friday CAT, if one calculates according to how shares were trading, was worth £420 million. The £702m offer is at 67% above its market value.
In 2004, AstraZeneca acquired 20% of CAT for £75m ($130m).
AstraZeneca has had good first quarter profits this year – at �1.2 billion ($2 billion), they are 38% higher than the first quarter of last year. The company has been on a corporate shopping spree over the last twelve months. It has bought:
— Kudos Pharmaceuticals, Cambridge, UK, for £121m
— Targacept, USA, for £173m
— Licencing of CytoFab (septic shock treatment) from Protherics, UK for £195m
— Joint promotion rights for Abraxane cancer therapy from Abraxis BioScience for $200m
AstraZeneca has been aggressively trying to increase its pipeline of new drugs.
AstraZeneca is the second biggest British pharmaceutical company and the third largest in Europe.
Written by: Christian Nordqvist
Editor: Medical News Today