As­traZeneca picks up Pfiz­er’s rare dis­ease gene ther­a­pies, taps new R&D leader as Mene Pan­ga­los steps down

As­traZeneca’s Alex­ion sub­sidiary is snap­ping up a suite of Pfiz­er’s pre­clin­i­cal gene ther­a­pies in a move to ex­pand its toolk­it in rare dis­ease R&D.

The deal, which the com­pa­nies said is worth up to $1 bil­lion, was un­veiled as As­traZeneca al­so an­nounced that Mene Pan­ga­los will step down as EVP, Bio­Phar­ma R&D. Suc­ceed­ing him in that role ear­ly next year — and join­ing the se­nior ex­ec­u­tive team in a few days — will be Sharon Barr, the cur­rent head of re­search and prod­uct de­vel­op­ment at Alex­ion.

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