HQ Team
February 21, 2025: FibroGen Inc., a US-based pharmaceutical company, will sell its China subsidiary to AstraZeneca Plc. for $160 million, allowing the Anglo-Swedish firm to gain access to an anaemia drug in the world’s most populated nation.
The transaction is expected to close by mid-2025, pending customary closing conditions, including regulatory review in China, according to a statement from FibroGen.
Following the close of the transaction, FibroGen will repay its term loan facility to investment funds managed by Morgan Stanley Tactical Value, further simplifying the company’s capital structure.
The combined transactions are expected to extend the company’s cash runway into 2027.
AstraZeneca will obtain all rights to roxadustat in China. Roxadustat is used to treat anemia in chronic kidney disease “with a pending regulatory decision for chemotherapy-induced anemia,” according to the statement.
‘Evaluation of alternatives’
FibroGen maintains its rights to roxadustat in the US and in all markets not licensed to Astellas.
The sale “of FibroGen China to AstraZeneca, our long-time strategic partner for roxadustat in China, bolstering our company on several fronts,” said Thane Wettig, Chief Executive Officer of FibroGen.
“It strengthens our financial position, meaningfully extending our cash runway into 2027, and enables us to continue progressing the clinical development program,” for its oncology pipeline, he said.
“After a thorough evaluation of alternatives, we believe selling our China operations and repaying our term loan is in the best interest of FibroGen’s stakeholders.”
Prostrate cancer
FibroGen will initiate mid-stage trials of its metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer in the second quarter of 2025.
The company continues to evaluate a development plan for roxadustat in anemia associated with lower-risk myelodysplastic syndrome, a high-value indication with significant unmet medical need, according to the statement.
It is planning for a meeting with the Food and Drug Administration in the second quarter of 2025 to determine the potential next steps for the development program for roxadustat in the US.
BofA Securities, Inc. is the exclusive financial advisor, and Ropes & Gray LLP is acting as legal advisor to FibroGen on the deal.
Red blood cells
Roxadustat, marketed as Evrenzo, is currently approved in China, Europe, Japan, and numerous other countries for treating anemia in chronic kidney disease patients on dialysis and others who are not.
Anaemia can be a serious medical condition in which patients have insufficient red blood cells and low levels of haemoglobin — a protein in red blood cells that carries oxygen to cells throughout the body.
Chronic kidney disease anemia frequently causes significant fatigue, cognitive dysfunction and decreased quality of life, and is associated with increased risk of hospitalisation, cardiovascular complications and death.
Severe anaemia is common in patients with chronic kidney disease, cancer, myelodysplastic syndrome, inflammatory diseases and other serious illnesses. Anaemia is particularly prevalent in patients with chronic kidney disease.
Chronic kidney disease affects 840 million patients worldwide and is generally progressive, characterised by gradual loss of kidney function that may eventually lead to kidney failure.
