AstraZeneca bids $210M for KuDOS Pharma

UK drugs giant AstraZeneca says it has reached an agreement to acquire KuDOS Pharmaceuticals, a privately-held British biotechnology firm focused on the discovery and development of oncology therapies based on the inhibition of DNA repair.

The all-cash offer: values KuDOS at $210.0 million; is expected to close early in 2006; and will further boost the UK firm's strong presence in the cancer drug market. The announcement, on December 23, followed swiftly on AstraZeneca's licensing deal with AtheroGenics to acquire rights to the latter's atherosclerosis drug AGI-1067, worth as much as $1.0 billion to the US firm.

This transaction provides AstraZeneca with a widely-recognised expert group and technology platform in an area of research that complements internal capabilities in oncology, one of the drug major's key therapy areas, the firm said. The DNA repair platform developed by KuDOS, in association with its founder, Stephen Jackson of Cambridge University, includes several different approaches towards inhibition of enzymes involved in the responses to various types of DNA damage. DNA repair inhibitors have the potential to kill cancer cells either as stand-alone therapy or by enhancing the efficacy of chemo- and radio-therapies.