AstraZeneca to acquire CinCor Pharma in deal worth up to $1.8bn

AstraZeneca (AZ) has announced it will acquire CinCor Pharma (CinCor) in a deal worth up to $1.8bn that is set to strengthen the Anglo-Swedish drugmaker’s cardiorenal pipeline.

Through the acquisition, AZ will gain access to baxdrostat (CIN-107), CinCor’s experimental aldosterone synthase inhibitor currently in development to treat conditions such as chronic kidney disease (CKD) and treatment-resistant hypertension.

The deal also offers AZ the potential to combine baxdrostat with its own Farxiga (dapagliflozin), a diabetes drug which has been shown to benefit patients with heart failure and kidney disease.

Under the terms of the agreement, AZ will pay CinCor $26 per share in cash, or $1.3bn in total, a premium of nearly 121% to the US-based biopharma’s closing market price on 6 January.

The offer also includes a non-tradable contingent value right of $10 per share in cash payable upon a specified regulatory submission of a baxdrostat product.

CinCor will continue to hold the exclusive, worldwide licence to baxdrostat following the transaction.

Baxdrostat, which is designed to lower aldosterone levels without affecting cortisol levels, demonstrated a statistically significant reduction in systolic blood pressure among patients with treatment-resistant hypertension after a 12-week treatment period in the phase 2 BrigHTN trial.

A reduction in systolic blood pressure at eight weeks was also seen in the phase 2 HALO trial in patients with uncontrolled hypertension, though a statistically significant difference was not reached.

Two additional phase 2 trials are ongoing in hypertensive patients with primary aldosteronism (Spark-PA) and in CKD. A phase 3 trial of baxdrostat is also planned to start during the first half of this year in treatment-resistant hypertension.

AZ’s executive vice president BioPharmaceuticals R&D, Mene Pangalos, said: “Acquiring CinCor supports our commitment to cardiorenal disease and further strengthens our pipeline with baxdrostat.

“Excess levels of aldosterone are associated with hypertension and several cardiorenal diseases, including CKD and coronary artery disease and being able to effectively reduce this would offer a much-needed treatment option for these patients.”

CinCor’s chief executive officer, Marc de Garidel, added: “We are excited about the proposed acquisition of CinCor by AZ as we believe it offers the prospect of accelerating the development timeline and expanding the breadth of benefits patients with cardiorenal diseases might obtain from baxdrostat, if approved.”