AstraZeneca’s $320m injection from cancer drug sale

AstraZeneca today made space in its drug cabinet by selling the US and Canadian rights to its Zoladex cancer treatment in a deal worth more than $320 million (£257 million).

Astra has sold some of the rights to its injectable prostate and breast cancer medicine Zoladex — which brought in $69 million in sales in the US and Canada last year, and $816 million globally — to private equity-backed TerSera Therapeutics to focus on new drugs.

TerSera is paying AstraZeneca $250 million up front, up to another $70 million if it hits sales-related milestones plus recurring quarterly payments based on sales.

It comes days after Astra’s stock surged when it announced ovarian cancer drug Lynparza, one of the British drug giant’s most promising experimental oncology treatments, had sailed through final-stage clinical trials, putting it on track to become a blockbuster treatment.

Astra is redoubling its R&D efforts on new oncology treatments as it tries to offset expiring patents on some of its most lucrative older drugs.