 CAT is central to AstraZeneca’s plans to establish a major international presence in the research and development of biological therapeutics.
AstraZeneca’s science base already possesses discovery and development capabilities for new biological medicines which will be combined with those of CAT and expanded through further investment.
The enhanced research and early development capability, combined with AstraZeneca’s global development, marketing and sales resources, will establish an international platform capable of accelerating the delivery of new medicines in AstraZeneca’s prioritised disease areas, embracing both monoclonal antibodies and novel biological entities.
www.cambridgeantibody.com |
The acquisition will work more in the form of a collaborative partnership.
Hamish Cameron, the new chief executive at CAT, emphasises that: "The key to this collaboration is respect for the cultures of AstraZeneca and CAT remaining different, since each of the organisations has a somewhat different role in the drug discovery and development process. In that spirit, CAT will retain a real sense of autonomy."
"We must remember that what AstraZeneca has principally bought with CAT is access to ideas and knowledge, not just hardware or capital," says Hamish Cameron.
"CAT's expertise in antibody generation and optimisation, process technology and early clinical skills will combine with AstraZeneca's extensive medical knowledge in the disease areas, drug development capabilities, commercial experience in global markets and the stability a big pharma company can offer. We have initiated alignment activities to get us both on the same track for the future. The successful AstraZeneca/CAT alliance that has been running during the last two years has provided a good basis on which to consider the alignment issues.”
"We hope to become a leader in biopharmaceuticals - an entity that will be more than the sum of its parts," continue Hamish Cameron and John Stageman, Vice President of AstraZeneca Biopharmaceutical Strategic Planning, unanimously.
AstraZeneca is expanding into the exciting arena of biopharmaceutical drugs. This is a great opportunity and is expected to widen the company’s portfolio with more specialist products. With monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) AstraZeneca can tackle attractive targets, mechanisms and product opportunities that are not as feasible for small molecules. CAT provides AstraZeneca with a broad technology and experience platform with which to discover novel monoclonal antibodies and to build new approaches for other therapeutic biological entities.
Key areas of application are in respiratory, inflammation and oncology. John Stageman and Hamish Cameron both stress that while AstraZeneca is building its biologic capabilities internally and through collaborations and acquisitions, it will maintain its strong small molecule R&D capability. "It is not about biologicals taking over, its about adding an extra dimension to our capability and then exploiting the creative synergy to find the best approach for a particular disease and mechanism," says John Stageman.
Monoclonal antibody production technology has greatly improved and cost of goods dramatically decreased. Biologic “anti-TNFa” medicines (including the CAT-derived HUMIRA®) were a major breakthrough in the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis and are today a 10-billion-dollar market. Perception of biologics is now much more favourable among doctors and payers than it used to be.
"AstraZeneca is a relatively new entrant into the field of monoclonal antibodies," admits John Stageman, "but that gives us advantages. We can ally and connect to the best players and we can learn rapidly from the pit-falls of the past.
Published 18 September 2006 |