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

Sept 28 (Reuters) – 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)