What's equal say in a partnership worth? To AstraZeneca ($AZN), $135 million. That's how much the U.K. drugmaker has added to its investment in a new diabetes partnership with Bristol-Myers Squibb ($BMY), in exchange for equal rights.
AstraZeneca forked over $3.2 billion to Amylin Pharmaceuticals, which is now a bonafide subsidiary of Bristol-Myers, now that the latter has wrapped up that acquisition. That's all according to plan. The company also said it would exercise its option for "additional governance rights" over Amylin's diabetes drug portfolio. Once antitrust regulators give the all-clear, AstraZeneca will pay that additional $135 million.
"We are looking forward to working with the team at Amylin to build on their success and maximize AstraZeneca's and Bristol-Myers Squibb's combined capabilities," interim CEO Simon Lowth said in a statement.
Bristol-Myers also trumpeted the new acquisition-slash-partnership. CEO Lamberto Andreotti emphasized that adding Amylin's drugs to the fold gives the companies a broad range of diabetes treatments for various stages of the disease.
The two companies have been working together on diabetes drugs since January 2007, but the Amylin deal expands that collaboration considerably. The companies now have Bydureon and Byetta, GLP-1 agonists, along with DPP-4 inhibitors Onglyza and Kombiglyze. There's also a yet-to-be-approved drug Forxiga, which got a thumbs up from Europe's Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use earlier this year.
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