AstraZeneca will acquire the rights to a portfolio of inhaled drugs from Barcelona-based Almirall for $875 million up front, in a deal worth up to $2.1 billion total.
According to WSJ, this deal will give AstraZeneca a key treatment for COPD - Eklira - which it currently lacks, a new type of inhaler and a portfolio of pipeline drugs, potentially helping competition with market rivals such as GSK.
A potential deal between Pfizer and AstraZeneca was squashed in late May, reportedly because Pfizer's $117 bid for AstraZeneca undervalued the drugmaker. AstraZeneca CEO Pascal Soriot has made a number of key acquisitions in his two-year tenure in order to maximize AstraZeneca's valuation.