AstraZeneca announced on December 12 that it is acquiring Icosavax, which develops a shot for respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), for $800 million in upfront cash. The deal value equates to $15 per share. Icosavax’s shareholders will also be in line for another $5 in cash per share, if certain regulatory and sale milestones are hit.
Icosavax is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company leveraging its virus-like particles (VLPs) platform technology to develop vaccines against infectious diseases, with an initial focus on life-threatening respiratory diseases and a vision for combination and pan-respiratory vaccines. The company’s pipeline includes a phase 3-ready protein VLP vaccine, dubbed IVX-A12, which targets both RSV and human metapneumovirus (hMPV).
AstraZeneca engages in the research, development and manufacture of pharmaceutical products. AstraZeneca focuses on prescription medicines in the areas of infection, cardiovascular, metabolic, respiratory, inflammation, autoimmune, oncology and neuroscience.
To coincide with the deal announcement, Icosavax released interim data from a phase-2 trial of IVX-A12, which saw 264 healthy adults aged 60-85 years receive a single dose of IVX-A12—either alone or in combination with CSL Seqirus’ adjuvant MF59—or placebo. Icosavax reported that IVX-A12 “induced robust immune responses” to both RSV and hMPV after 28 days among both the adjuvant and non-adjuvant cohorts. The trial also reconfirmed the safety data seen in phase-1, with no vaccine-related serious adverse events reported in the phase-2 trial.
According to data captured in the LevinPro HC database, this acquisition represents the 149th Biotechnology transaction of 2023. This also marks AstraZeneca’s second acquisition of the year. In January, the company announced its acquisition of CinCor Pharma, a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company developing drugs for the treatment of cardio-renal diseases, for an upfront payment of $1.3 billion.
