AstraZeneca (AZN) has announced its plans to acquire Fusion Pharmaceuticals (FUSN), a Canadian drug developer, in an all-cash deal valued at $2 billion. This strategic move aims to bolster AstraZeneca's presence in the oncology space.
Yahoo Finance's Anjalee Khemlani breaks down the details.
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Editor's note: This article was written by Angel Smith
Video Transcript
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AKIKO FUJITA: AstraZeneca announcing it will purchase Canadian drug developer Fusion Pharmaceuticals in a $2 billion cash deal. Let's bring in Yahoo Finance's Anjalee Khemlani who's following this deal news for us. Anjalee, to what extent does this expand the portfolio for AstraZeneca?
ANJALEE KHEMLANI: It definitely is an additive for the company. They're really looking to grow in oncology right now. So this deal is $2 billion acquisition for the company Fusion, which is already a partner of the company. They've already been working together for about three years.
And so Fusion really adds a different type of oncology pipeline for the company. If you take a look at the relationship, we know that the Canadian-based company also gives AstraZeneca growth in the Canada space. So that's sort of where this adds to what AstraZeneca already has, which is those antibody drug conjugates.
And this is one aspect of it. Fusion also has a couple of other platforms as well to bring under the roof. AstraZeneca has really been chasing oncology for a bit. They currently have 40% revenue as of 2023. That's an increase of 21% coming from oncology itself. And so, while it hasn't necessarily been a leader in the past, the company did say at the JPM conference earlier this year that it's driving towards becoming a leader in the space by 2030.
So this just adds to what the company is looking at. Currently, it does have a little bit more of a focus on breast cancer. It has other types of platforms that it's focused on. But these ADCs, really a big deal in the oncology space right now. So this gets it going further in that area.
AKIKO FUJITA: And the stock getting a huge bump on the back of that Fusion Pharmaceuticals there. Anjalee Khemlani, thanks so much for that.
