Swedish Orphan Biovitrum AB (publ) (Sobi ) ( has completed the acquisition from AstraZeneca of rights to Synagis in the US as well as rights to participate in 50 percent of the future earnings of the candidate drug MEDI8897 in the US.
The deal was announced late last year and marks a continuing effort by AstraZeneca to sharpen its focus on areas such as cancer and heart disease.
Synagis is a medicine for the prevention of serious lower respiratory tract infections (LRTI) caused by the respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) in high-risk infants and is the only approved preventative medicine for the condition. MEDI8897 is a follow-on candidate to Synagis and is being investigated for the prevention of LRTI caused by RSV in a broad infant population.
- The acquisition of Synagis is expected to more than double both the revenue and size of Sobi’s US organization, enhancing the financial contribution of the US to Sobi’s overall revenues to approximately one third.
- Synagis yearly sales in the U.S. total $269 million
Following completion of the acquisition, AstraZeneca will hold 8.1 percent of the total shares and votes in Sobi.
