AstraZeneca to divest Myalept to Aegerion Pharmaceuticals

AstraZeneca has announced that it will be divesting its orphan product Myalept to Aegerion Pharmaceuticals, in a deal that is expected to be finalised by January 2015.

The injection-based metreleptin therapy is indicated to treat complications of leptin deficiency in patients with generalised lipodystrophy and has orphan drug designation in the US, EU and Japan.

Aegerion has agreed to pay AstraZeneca an upfront fee of $325 million (204.49 million pounds) to acquire global rights to develop, manufacture and commercialise Myalept, subject to an existing distributor licence with Shionogi covering Japan, South Korea and Taiwan.

AstraZeneca has hailed Aegerion's expertise in rare diseases as a key quality that will make it an ideal steward for the Myalept brand.

Luke Miels, executive vice-president for global product and portfolio strategy at AstraZeneca, said: "The divestment of Myalept reinforces our focus on core strategic priorities and will allow us to concentrate our resources on disease areas where we can make the biggest difference to patients."

This comes after the firm last week completed the acquisition of Almirall's respiratory franchise, while also agreeing to acquire the imaging and data analysis technology firm Definiens via its subsidiary MedImmune.