AstraZeneca sells cancer drug duo rights to Juvisé

AstraZeneca on Friday said it had agreed to sell the commercial rights to Arimidex (anastrozole) and Casodex (bicalutamide) to Juvisé Pharmaceuticals in several European, African and other countries.

As part of the deal, which covers more than 50 nations including Germany, France and Switzerland, Juvisé Pharmaceuticals has paid the pharma giant $181m and could also make future sales-contingent payments of up to $17m.

Both treatments, which are mainly used to treat breast and prostate cancers, have lost their compound patent protection in these countries, while AstraZeneca had already divested the rights to the medicines in the US back in 2017.

AstraZeneca said the sale did not change its financial guidance for 2019.

Dave Fredrickson, executive vice president at the oncology business unit, said: "Arimidex and Casodex are important established medicines and we are pleased that Juvisé Pharmaceuticals will now take on the work of making sure patients continue to have access to them.

"Today's agreement is part of a broader strategy of reducing our portfolio of mature medicines to reallocate resources towards developing our pipeline of new medicines."

At 0925 GMT, the shares were up 0.9% at 7,704.32p.