AstraZeneca, Abraxis ink $200M licensing pact

AstraZeneca and Abraxis BioScience have wrapped a deal to share the promotional rights to the cancer drug Abraxane in the U.S. Abraxane is currently approved for breast cancer but is being developed as a therapy for a range of cancers. AstraZeneca will pay $200 million for five and a half years of co-promotion rights to Abraxane and gains right of first refusal to several markets outside the U.S. Simultaneously, AstraZeneca announced it will sell its U.S. anesthetic and analgesic products to Abraxane for $350 million.

"This deal gives AstraZeneca access to the key U.S. chemotherapy market," said Tony Zook, president and CEO of AstraZeneca U.S. "Abraxane brings significant benefits to cancer patients over existing therapies and complements and extends our U.S. oncology product portfolio."

- here's the AP report on Abraxane

PLUS: Abraxis is buying one of Pfizer's Puerto Rico plants to expand production of Abraxane. Report