AstraZeneca agrees buyout with UK research company

AstraZeneca and Cambridge Antibody Technology (CAT) have announced that they have agreed a deal which would see the UK’s second-largest pharmaceutical company buy Cambridge-based CAT for 702 million pounds.

CAT provides research into monoclonal antibodies, a type of antibody specifically tailored to a particular disease. The company currently has two drugs in different phases of development – one a treatment for hairy-cell leukaemia in phase II trials, the other a treatment for B-cell malignancies in pre-clinical development. It has also licensed Humira to Abbott Laboratories, an antibody drug for use in patients with rheumatoid arthritis.

An AstraZeneca statement read: “Building on the success of an existing collaboration, and recognising the increasing importance of biotechnology in medical research, CAT will become central to AstraZeneca’s plans to establish a major international presence in the research and development of biological therapeutics.”

“AstraZeneca’s science base already possesses discovery and development capabilities for new biological medicines which will be combined with those of CAT and expanded through further investment,” it added.

The buyout is the latest event in a history of cooperation between the two companies. In 2004 the two companies entered into a collaboration and licence agreement and AstraZeneca also acquired a 19.2 per cent stake in the research firm.

AstraZeneca also stated that it intends to open up a new research and development facility to be led from CAT’s Cambridge headquarters to research respiratory, cancer, neuroscience and gastrointestinal drugs. AstraZeneca will also acquire the royalty payments from Abbott for Humira.

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