As­traZeneca makes $1B-plus in cash-and-stock deal grant­i­ng So­bi US rights to RSV drug Synagis

As­traZeneca $AZN has di­vest­ed the US rights to its pre­ven­ta­tive RSV drug, Synagis, to Swedish Or­phan Biovit­rum AB (So­bi) for $1.5 bil­lion in cash and stock, as the British drug­mak­er con­tin­ues to re­fine its pipeline and fo­cus on its new­er flag­ship prod­ucts.

Synagis, known chem­i­cal­ly as palivizum­ab, is used to pre­vent se­ri­ous low­er res­pi­ra­to­ry tract in­fec­tions caused by the res­pi­ra­to­ry syn­cy­tial virus (RSV) in in­fants and young chil­dren, and is the on­ly med­i­cine ap­proved for the pre­ven­tion of se­ri­ous RSV dis­ease. US sales of the drug de­clined by 27% to $133 mil­lion in Q3, As­traZeneca re­port­ed last week. Sales of the drug out­side the US, which is the re­spon­si­bil­i­ty of Ab­b­Vie $AB­BV, were up 4% to $281 mil­lion.

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