AstraZeneca PLC (LON:AZN) has sold off the remaining rights to three asthma and hay fever treatments for up to US$371mln.
Alvesco is used to treat persistent asthma, while Omnaris and Zetonna are nasal sprays used to treat symptoms associated with allergic rhinitis – a fancy term for hay fever. All three are reformulations of the same drug, ciclesonide.
Covis Pharma already owns the US rights and royalties to the treatments and will own the global rights once the deal goes through.
READ: Astra sells off rights to two drugs for US$1bn
The deal follows a familiar theme for AstraZeneca, which has been selling off lots of ‘non-core’ drugs in recent years to help keep money flowing in while it spends millions developing its pipeline.
Last week it offloaded two arthritis and heartburn drugs to German pharma giant Grünenthal for up to US$922mln.
“One of our strategic objectives is to divest parts of our portfolio, allowing us to allocate resources to develop innovative new medicines to address unmet patient needs,” said executive vice president Mark Mallon.
“Covis Pharma has strong capabilities in marketing medicines around the world, and our agreement with them means patients will continue to benefit from Alvesco, Omnaris and Zetonna.”
Astra shares were down 0.4% to 5,852p.