Pfizer to purchase AstraZeneca’s small molecule anti-infective business

Pfizer has agreed a deal to acquire development and commercialisation rights to the late-stage small molecule anti-infectives business of AstraZeneca.

The firm will make an upfront payment of $550 million (415.97 million pounds) and a deferred payment of $175 million in January 2019, with AstraZeneca also eligible to receive up to $250 million in milestone payments and up to $600 million in sales-related fees, plus future royalties.

By agreeing this deal, Pfizer will gain access to the recently EU-approved drug Zavicefta, a treatment for multidrug-resistant Gram-negative infections, including those resistant to carbapenem antibiotics.

The marketed agents Merrem/Meronem and Zinforo, plus the clinical development assets aztreonam-avibactam and CXL, are also encompassed by the deal.

John Young, group president for Pfizer Essential Health, said: "The addition of AstraZeneca's complementary small molecule anti-infectives portfolio will help expand patient access to these important medicines and enhance our global expertise and offerings in this increasingly important area of therapeutics."

This comes in the same week that Pfizer announced the $14 billion takeover of the cancer-focused biopharmaceutical company Medivation.

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