AstraZeneca has agreed to acquire CinCor Pharma, Inc. a clinical-stage company, focused on treatments for high blood pressure and kidney disease for an initial price of $1.3 billion.
The company, which employa about 1,500 in northern Delaware, has been on the hunt for companies that would bolster its drug pipeline. CinCor is based near Boston.
AstraZeneca stated that the acquisition will bolster AstraZeneca’s pipeline by adding CinCor’s candidate drug, baxdrostat, which targets uncontrolled high blood pressure. The deal would clear the way for AZ to determine whether a combination of baxdrostat with its blockbuster kidney drug Farxiga would prove to be effective. Farxiga sales have have hit $1 billion on a quarterly basis.
As part of the deal, AZ would gain more than a half a bilion dollars in cash and securities from CinCor, which has been able to raise ample funds for drug development.
According to an AZ release, “Baxdrostat represents a potentially leading next-generation ASI as it is highly selective for aldosterone synthase and spares the cortisol pathway in humans.The opportunity also brings the potential for combination with Farxiga and complements AstraZeneca’s strategy to provide added benefit across cardiorenal diseases, where there is a high unmet medical need.”
Mene Pangalos, executive vice president BioPharmaceuticals R&D, AstraZeneca, 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 chronic kidney disease and coronary artery disease and being able to effectively reduce this would offer a much-needed treatment option for these patients.”
AstraZeneca will initiate a tender offer to acquire all of CinCor’s outstanding shares for a price of $26 per share in cash at closing, plus a value right of $10 per share in cash payable upon a specified regulatory submission of a baxdrostat product. The upfront cash portion of the consideration represents a transaction value of approximately $1.3 billion and a 121% premium over CinCor’s closing market price this month.
Combined, the upfront and maximum potential contingent value payments represent, if achieved, the transaction value would total $1.8 billion. As part of the deal, AZ will acquire the cash and marketable securities on CinCor’s balance sheet, which totalled approximately $522 million as the end of September, 2022.
In patients with treatment-resistant hypertension, baxdrostat met the primary endpoint in the BrigHTN Phase II trial after a 12-week treatment period.
Baxdrostat did not meet the primary endpoint of showing a statistically significant reduction at eight weeks in the HALO Phase II trial in patients with uncontrolled hypertension. Two additional Phase II trials are ongoing in other types of hypertensive patients.
A Phase III trial of baxdrostat is planned 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.
