HQ Team
January 10, 2023: AstraZeneca, a British-Swedish global pharmaceutical and biotechnology company, will buy CinCor Pharma, Inc., for $1.8 billion, according to a statement.
The Cambridge, England-headquartered company’s acquisition will boost the cardiorenal pipeline by adding CinCor’s baxdrostat, a blood pressure-lowering drug.
AstraZeneca’s acquisition will also have the potential for combination with its blockbuster drug Farxiga, to treat cardiorenal diseases “where there is a high unmet medical need,” according to the statement.
AstraZeneca will initiate a tender offer to acquire all of CinCor’s outstanding shares for $26 per share in cash.
It will have a non-tradable contingent value right of $10 per share in cash payable upon a specified regulatory submission of a baxdrostat product.
206% premium
The upfront cash portion represents a transaction value of about $1.3bn and a 121% premium over CinCor’s closing market price on January 6.
Combined, the upfront and maximum potential contingent value payments represent a transaction value of approximately $1.8bn and a 206% premium over CinCor’s closing market price on January 6 2023.
As part of the transaction, AstraZeneca will acquire the cash and marketable securities on CinCor’s balance sheet, totalling approximately $522m as of September 30 2022.
After completion of the tender offer, AstraZeneca’s acquisition subsidiary will merge with CinCor.
CinCor, a US-based clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company, focused on developing treatments for resistant and uncontrolled hypertension and chronic kidney disease.
Cardiorenal diseases
“Excess aldosterone levels are associated with hypertension and several cardiorenal diseases, including chronic kidney disease and coronary artery disease.
“Being able to reduce this effectively would offer a much-needed treatment option for these patients,” said Mene Pangalos, executive vice president of BioPharmaceuticals R&D, AstraZeneca.
Baxdrostat has not yet met the primary endpoint of showing a statistically significant reduction in systolic blood pressure at eight weeks in the phase II trial in patients with uncontrolled hypertension.
Hypertension is the sustained elevation of systemic arterial blood pressure, most commonly defined as systolic blood pressure, more than or equal to 140mm Hg or diastolic blood pressure, equal to or higher than 90 mm Hg.
Two other phase II trials are ongoing in hypertensive patients with primary aldosteronism and chronic kidney disease.
Aldosterone is a disorder in which your adrenal glands make an excessive hormone called aldosterone. Aldosterone helps regulate your blood pressure by balancing sodium and potassium levels in your body.
A phase III trial of baxdrostat is slated to start in treatment-resistant hypertension during the first half of 2023.
CinCor holds the exclusive, worldwide licence to baxdrostat, which will remain in place following the transaction.
