AstraZeneca buys rights to septic drug form UK’s Protherics

AstraZeneca has bought the worldwide rights to an experimental septic shock drug, CytoFab, from a small UK biotechnology firm.

Shares in the Runcorn based Protherics soared 54 per cent yesterday on the news it had made the ?195 million deal with Europe’s third largest drugs maker.

Under the terms of the deal Protherics will receive an upfront payment of ?16.3 million, with the balance of the ?195 million dependent on the drug’s successful future development.

In addition the company will get 20 per cent royalty on future sales of the product.

Also included in the deal was the sale of 4.3 per cent of the company to AstraZeneca for ?7.5 million.

CytoFab is an antibody-based medicine for the treatment of septic shock, or sepsis, resulting from severe infection.

Sepsis is life-threatening condition that affects three million people a year worldwide.

Deutsche Bank analysts told Reuters that, if successful, CytoFab could generate annual sales of more than $1 billion.

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