AstraZeneca Signs Three Cancer Pacts

AstraZeneca last week inked three deals to bolster its oncology pipeline. MedImmune, the biologics arm of AstraZeneca, has partnered with biotech firm Immunocore to develop therapeutics that send patients’ T cells out to combat cancer cells. For each cancer immunotherapy developed, Immunocore scores $20 million up front and up to $300 million in milestone payments. AstraZeneca also signed a deal with Horizon Discovery to identify and validate drug targets by exploiting the concept of synthetic lethality, in which mutations in two genes are required for cell death. Finally, AstraZeneca bought the rights to Probiodrug’s cyclin-dependent kinase 9 inhibitor, which blocks a target implicated in cancer and inflammatory diseases, and related compounds.