AstraZeneca Completes Divestment of Rare Disease Medicine Caprelsa

AstraZeneca has announced the global completion of the divestment of Caprelsa (vandetanib), a rare disease medicine, to Genzyme, a Sanofi company.

Genzyme made an upfront payment to AstraZeneca of $165 million to acquire the global rights to sell and develop Caprelsa, and will make further development and sales milestone payments of up to $135 million. The transaction does not include the transfer of any AstraZeneca employees or facilities.

AstraZeneca says that the divestment reinforces it’s strategic focus on its three main therapy areas. As an asset divestment, the upfront receipt and any subsequent payments for the agreement will be reported in Other Operating Income in the Company’s financial statements. The transaction does not impact AstraZeneca’s financial guidance for 2015.