Astra And Pharmacia Announce US Biotech Deals

Swedish pharmaceutical majors Astra and Pharmacia both announced agreements with US biotechnology companies last week, which could help alleviate short-term research pipeline gaps. Astra's deal is with the privately-held Centaur Pharmaceuticals of California, and Pharmacia's is with PDT Inc.

Astra and Centaur have entered into an R&D collaboration to develop new drugs to treat Alzheimer's disease and cerebral stroke. Under the terms of the deal, the two companies will collaborate on discovering new therapies for these conditions. Astra will provide resources for preclinical research and clinicals for drugs based on Centaur's Nitrone-Related Therapeutic technology.

Although financial details are not being released, the agreement is said to involve research funding over several years and various milestone payments. However, a Wall Street Journal article has suggested that it could be worth more than Astra's recent deal with CytoTherapeutics (Marketletters passim), which is valued at up to $40 million.