Pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca (Nasdaq: AZN) on Monday closed its roughly $1.1 billion acquisition of Seattle-based biopharmaceutical company Icosavax.
The companies first announced the deal, which includes an upfront cash payment of $800 million plus milestone payments, in December. Icosavax will continue to operate out of Seattle, adding its respiratory disease treatments into AstraZeneca's pipeline.
At the time of the deal announcement, an AstraZeneca spokesperson said Icosavax has about 70 full-time employees, most of whom were expected to join the combined company. The spokesperson added the Icosavax brand will fold into AstraZeneca. Icosavax's LinkedIn page now links to the AstraZeneca homepage.
The $1.1 billion price tag is a 130% premium above Icosavax's volume-weighted average share price for the 60 days leading up to the announcement in December.
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Icosavax, founded in 2017, spun out of the University of Washington's Institute for Protein Design. The company's lead treatment candidate, IVX-A12, targets both respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) and human metapneumovirus (HMPV), both of which can cause severe respiratory infection. In a news release announcing the close of the deal, AstraZeneca said the drug is ready for phase 3 clinical trials.
Icosavax raised a $100 million Series B round in 2021. The company went public later that year.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says RSV causes between 6,000 and 10,000 deaths in people 65 years old and up each year in the U.S., as well as deaths of between 100 and 300 children under the age of 5.
AstraZeneca is headquartered in the United Kingdom and has 178 projects in its pipeline, according to its website. The company operates in more than 100 countries. AstraZeneca generated $45.8 billion in revenue las year, up 6% year over year.
"We look forward to combining our skills and expertise in advancing the development of IVX-A12 with AstraZeneca’s decades of experience in RSV, resources, and capabilities in late-stage development,” Icosavax CEO Adam Simpson said in the release first announcing the deal.
