AstraZeneca to invest $2 billion in Summit Therapeutics for cancer drug tie-up

Sept 28 — Summit Therapeutics said on Monday that British ​drugmaker AstraZeneca would invest $2 billion in the company and collaborate on a series of ‌studies testing their cancer treatments together.

Summit's shares rose over 15% ⁠in extended trading following ​the announcement.

Here are ⁠some details:

• AstraZeneca will buy preferred shares ‌in Summit at ‌an equivalent price of $18.36 per common share, ⁠representing an 18.6% premium ⁠to Summit's Monday closing price of $15.48.

• The investment marks a major vote of confidence in ivonescimab, a next-generation cancer treatment licensed by Summit from China's Akeso.

• Ivonescimab works by ‌simultaneously blocking PD-1, which ​helps cancer evade the immune system, and VEGF, which tumors use to grow blood vessels, helping the immune system better find and attack cancer cells.

• As part of the partnership, the two companies will also launch clinical ​trials combining ivonescimab with AstraZeneca's cancer treatments.

• ‌They have also ‌signed ⁠a preliminary agreement to explore testing ivonescimab with several other AstraZeneca medicines, including its antibody-drug conjugates, a class of treatments that deliver cancer-killing ‌drugs directly to ​tumor cells.

• The transaction ‌is expected to ⁠close by ​the end of the week.

(Reporting by Kamal Choudhury in ​Bengaluru)

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