AstraZeneca is paying $800 million to expand into rare endocrinology, snagging itself a phase 3 candidate through the acquisition of French biotech Amolyt Pharma. The deal features $250 million in milestones tied to a regulatory event.
Buying Amolyt will give AstraZeneca control of eneboparatide, a PTHR1 agonist that the biotech moved into phase 3 in June. Eneboparatide is designed to produce sustained and stable levels of calcium, which falls to low levels in patients with hypoparathyroidism, while preventing kidney disease and restoring bone turnover.
People with the thyroid disease take supplements to restore blood calcium levels, often for life. Amolyt’s phase 3 study is assessing whether eneboparatide can free patients from the need to take vitamin D and oral calcium. If the molecule can give patients that freedom and keep serum calcium in the normal range, the study could meet its primary endpoint and position AstraZeneca to file for approval.