UA022

AstraZeneca (AZ) has announced that it will be acquiring Icosavax in a deal worth up to $1.1bn, strengthening the Anglo-Swedish drugmaker’s late-stage vaccine pipeline. The US biopharma focuses on developing vaccines against infectious diseases using its protein virus-like particle (VLP) platform. As VLP vaccines mimic how naturally occurring viruses appear to the body’s immune system, they could offer benefits over non-VLP vaccines, including a stronger immune response, greater breadth of protection and increased durability. Icosavax’s lead candidate is a phase 3-ready combination protein VLP vaccine targeting both respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) and human metapneumovirus (hMPV), two leading causes of severe respiratory infection and hospitalisation in older adults and people with chronic conditions. The asset, IVX-A12, has a differentiated profile versus currently approved RSV vaccines, according to AZ, and has already been shown in a mid-stage study to elicit robust immune responses against both RSV and hMPV one month after vaccination. Iskra Reic, executive vice president, vaccines and immune therapies, AZ, said: “This VLP vaccine technology has the potential to transform prevention against severe infectious diseases, including RSV and hMPV. "With the addition of Icosavax’s phase 3-ready lead asset to our late-stage pipeline, we will have a differentiated, advanced investigational vaccine and a platform for further development of combination vaccines against respiratory viruses.” Under the terms of the agreement, AZ will initiate a tender offer to acquire all of Icosavax’s outstanding shares for a price of $15 per share in cash at closing, plus a non-tradable contingent value right for up to $5 per share in cash payable upon achievement of a specified regulatory milestone and a sales milestone. Adam Simpson, chief executive officer, Icosavax, said: "We look forward to combining our skills and expertise in advancing the development of IVX-A12 with AZ’s decades of experience in RSV, resources and capabilities in late-stage development.” The acquisition is just one of a series of deals that AZ has made this year. Earlier this month, it entered into a collaboration agreement worth up to $247m with Absci to develop an artificial intelligence-designed antibody drug for a specified oncology target. The company also entered into an exclusive licence agreement worth almost $420m with Chinese biotech Usynova last month for global rights to preclinical small molecule drug candidate UA022.

AstraZeneca (AZ) and Absci have entered into a collaboration agreement worth up to $247m to develop an artificial intelligence (AI)-designed antibody drug for a specified oncology target. The partnership will combine AZ’s capabilities in oncology research and development with Absci’s Integrated Drug Creation platform, which the generative AI company says “unlocks the potential to accelerate time to clinic and increase the probability of success by simultaneously optimising multiple drug characteristics important to both development and therapeutic benefit”. The agreement includes an upfront commitment from AZ as well as research and development funding, milestone payments and royalties on product sales. Puja Sapra, senior vice president of biologics engineering and oncology targeted delivery at AZ, said: "This collaboration is an exciting opportunity to utilise Absci's de novo AI antibody creation platform to design a potential new antibody therapy in oncology.” Absci outlines that its approach “overcomes the limits of traditional drug discovery”. The platform generates proprietary data by measuring millions of protein-protein interactions, which is then used to train the company’s AI models and, in later iterations, to validate antibodies designed using the de novo AI models. Sean McClain, founder and chief executive officer of Absci, said: “AZ is a leader in developing novel treatments in oncology, and we are excited to collaborate with them to design a therapeutic candidate antibody with the potential to improve the lives of cancer patients.” The partnership comes less than a month after Absci and Almirall announced a drug discovery deal aimed at developing and commercialising AI-designed treatments for dermatological diseases, marking an expansion to Absci’s de novo AI drug creation portfolio into the dermatology space. The agreement, which is worth over $650m, will see Absci apply its de novo generative AI technology to create and commercialise therapeutic candidates for two dermatological targets. AZ has also made a series of deals this year. Last month, it entered into an exclusive licence agreement worth almost $420m with Chinese biotech Usynova for global rights to preclinical small molecule drug candidate UA022. The company also recently entered into an exclusive licence agreement with China’s Eccogene for global rights to an investigational once-daily oral drug for cardiometabolic diseases.