AstraZeneta's $39 billion acquisition of Alexion is officially a foray into rare diseases

AstraZeneta has made another big move recently, announcing over the weekend that it would buy Alexion, a rare disease drug company, for $39 billion to formally enter the market for rare disease drugs.
improve the status of immunology through Alexion's innovative complement technology platform and research and development capabilities for rare diseases. founded in 1992,
Alexion, a biopharmaceutical company focused on the development of innovative drugs for rare diseases, owns Soliris, a highly profitable rare disease drug whose global sales have soared since Soliris went public, making it a bombshell with $1.124 billion in sales in 2012.
2019, Soliris reported annual sales of $3,946 million, ranking 11th in 2019 in antibody drug sales.
AstraZeneta has now reached a final acquisition agreement with Alexion.
is expected to achieve double-digit revenue growth by 2025.
AstraZeneta chief executive Pascal Soriot said: "Alexion has established itself as a leader in complementary biology, bringing life-changing benefits to people with rare diseases.
acquisition allows us to enhance our immunology presence.
enable us to leverage our expertise in immunology and precision medicine to drive innovation and deliver life-changing drugs to more patients.
" rare disease is a highly growing area of treatment with rapid innovation and serious unseeded medical needs.
deal will bring AstraZeneca a strong portfolio, innovative research and development channels for rare diseases, a global talent pool and a strong production capacity for biologics.
the combined company will expand its coverage globally and cover primary, specialist and highly specialized care, according to the two sides.
AstraZeneta's own line of business covers oncology, cardiovascular, kidney and metabolic, and respiratory diseases, initially focusing on small molecules and biologics, with an increasing focus on precision medicine, genomics and oscic genetics.
recently, AstraZeneta has invested more in immunology research and drug development for immuno-mediated diseases.
recent years, in order to strengthen the research and development pipeline, many large foreign companies are in a frenzied buy-to-buy, investment in research or upcoming market of heavy drugs, product portfolio complement.
In recent years, such as anti-cancer drugs, central nervous system diseases, diagnosis and infectious diseases are a number of pharmaceutical mergers and acquisitions of the important field, rare diseases in recent years not only the FDA approved the "star", but also the new hot spot of mergers and acquisitions, such as Takeda mergers and acquisitions of Shire, the success of Takeda into the world's first-tier pharmaceutical giants.
combined with Takeda Pharmaceuticals, the company's total annual revenue will exceed $30 billion, mainly from the oncology, digestion, neuroscience, rare diseases and blood products business areas.
is also the biggest acquisition of the pharmaceutical sector this year, following Takeda's $62.4 billion acquisition of rare disease drug company Shire.
。