Astellas bags prostate cancer drug in $175M buyout as Xtandi approaches patent cliff
Astellas is shelling out $175 million in cash to buy Propella Therapeutics and its Phase I prostate cancer therapy that puts a twist on a longstanding treatment for the disease.
Propella’s lead program, PRL-02, is a long-acting prodrug of abiraterone — an androgen biosynthesis inhibitor that’s been marketed by J&J’s Janssen as Zytiga. What once was a blockbuster, Zytiga sales have seen a steady decline since its patent a few years ago; in the first nine months of 2023, it reported $686 million in revenue compared to $1.5 billion during the same period in 2022.
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