The board of San Mateo, California-based ZS Pharma agreed to the transaction.
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“It makes sense with a few of the opportunities they have in their own late-stage pipeline”, said Johan Unnerus, an analyst at Swedbank in Stockholm. Actelion rose 0.9 per cent to 139.80 Swiss francs. Shares in the United States group closed at $63.31 on the NASDAQ last night. The drug, called ZS-9, is undergoing review by USA regulators, with a decision expected by May 26.
AstraZeneca, which fought off a £69 billion takeover bid from U.S. rival Pfizer previous year, said the ZS Pharma deal will not affect its financial guidance for 2015, which it raised on Thursday on strong sales of its key heart treatment drug, Brilinta. ZS Pharma, which has around 200 employees across three sites in California, Texas and Colorado, will then become a wholly owned subsidiary of AZ.
It is expected to generate product sales from 2016, with minimal earnings dilution over 2016 and 2017, becoming accretive to the company’s core earnings from 2018.
The deal will give AstraZeneca access to ZS Pharma’s treatment for hyperkalemia, a condition of elevated potassium in the bloodstream that is associated with chronic kidney disease and chronic heart failure.
AZ chief executive Pascal Soriot said the risk of hyperkalaemia “is underappreciated and prevalence is increasing”, adding that the acquisition “complements our strategic focus on cardiovascular and metabolic disease”.
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The company is banking on a raft of new drugs now in development to revive its fortunes, particularly on cancer medicines, with clinical data on its durvalumab lung cancer treatment due by the end of the year.
