Argenta and AstraZeneca enter COPD R&D accord worth up to $500M

Anglo-Swedish drug major AstraZeneca has agreed to pay privately-held UK firm Argenta Discovery up to $500.0 million as part of an R&D alliance to identify improved bronchodilators to treat chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. Under the terms of the deal, Argenta will receive $21.0 million up front, plus further committed research funding and preclinical milestones. A team of scientists from the two companies will collaborate in order to identify long-acting muscarinic antagonists and dual-acting muscarinic antagonist-beta2 agonist compounds. AstraZeneca will decide which candidate drugs will be developed as once-daily, inhaled mono or combination therapies and the firm will be solely responsible for development and worldwide commercialization of all resulting products. In return, Argenta is eligible for development milestones and royalties that could raise the value of the deal to $500.0 million.