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Pharma & Bio Ingredients
Cambridge Antibody Technology helped codevelop Humira, a blockbuster drug for rheumatoid arthritis marketed by Abbott Laboratories of the United States.
The deal gives AstraZeneca the royalties on the sales of Humira, as well as milestone payments and royalties on other CAT-licensed products.
It will also give the Anglo-Swedish drugmaker access to CAT's pipeline, which includes CAT-3888, in phase II development for cancer, and CAT-354, an asthma drug currently in phase I trials.
Analysts were unimpressed. Navid Malik at Collins Stewart said AstraZeneca paid too much considering the quality of drugs in CAT's pipeline. "It was already collaborating with Cambridge Antibody, so why did it have to buy it?" Malik said.
"None of CAT's projects are going to fill the big near-term gaps in AstraZeneca's pipeline," said Paul Diggle, an analyst with London-based brokerage Nomura Code Securities.
