AstraZeneca to acquire KuDOS Pharmaceuticals for $210 million

By Angela McDaniels

Seattle, Dec. 23 - AstraZeneca Inc. said it will acquire KuDOS Pharmaceuticals Ltd. for $210 million in cash.

The transaction is expected to close early in 2006.

The purchase price is subject to debt and working capital adjustment.

"KuDOS Pharmaceuticals is an excellent opportunity to acquire an established technology platform additive to our own oncology research capabilities and promising early development stage compounds at the same time," AstraZeneca executive director of development John Patterson said in a company news release.

KuDOS Pharmaceuticals has developed a DNA repair platform that inhibits 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 chemotherapy and radiation therapies, the company said.

Through the acquisition of KuDOS Pharmaceuticals, AstraZeneca also gains clinical and pre-clinical compounds and programs including KU 59436, a targeted, oral poly-ADP-ribose polymerase enzyme inhibitor currently in phase 1 clinical development.

London-based AstraZeneca develops, manufactures and markets prescription pharmaceuticals and supplies health-care services.

KuDOS is a biotechnology company based in Cambridge, England, that develops oncology therapies based on the inhibition of DNA repair.

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