AstraZeneca in huge deal with Daiichi over breast-cancer therapy
The deal on the drug known as trastuzumab deruxtecan sent shares in Japan's Daiichi soaring 16%, its daily limit, to a record high on Friday
Frankfurt — AstraZeneca will pay up to $6.9bn to work with Daiichi Sankyo in a hotly-tipped experimental treatment for breast cancer, in a direct challenge to the world's biggest cancer drug maker, Roche. The deal on the drug known as trastuzumab deruxtecan sent shares in Japan's Daiichi soaring 16%, its daily limit, to a record high on Friday. Daiichi's stock has climbed 45% in 2019 on optimism about the treatment. Britain's AstraZeneca plans to use some of the proceeds of a $3.5bn share issue to fund the deal. Its shares fell as much as 6%. Under the deal, AstraZeneca will make an upfront payment of $1.35bn to Daiichi. They will share development and commercialisation costs for the drug worldwide, with Daiichi retaining exclusive rights in Japan. Daiichi's drug, also known as DS-8201, targets the HER2 protein, a major trigger of uncontrolled cell growth in about 20% of breast cancers, where Roche has been a pioneer with its ageing $7bn-a-year best-seller Herceptin. DS-8201 is bein...
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