AstraZeneca boosts China presence with FibroGen's anemia drug in $160 million deal

(Reuters) -AstraZeneca will buy longtime partner FibroGen's China unit for about $160 million to gain rights to its anemia drug in the country, further boosting its presence in the world's second-biggest economy.

The deal comes at a time when the Anglo-Swedish pharma company is facing a string of investigations in the country, AstraZeneca's biggest international market that accounted for 12% of 2024 sales, following heavy investments in the region.

AstraZeneca in 2023 signed several licensing deals with Chinese companies and bought Suzhou-headquartered Gracell Biotechnologies for $1.2 billion.

Earlier this month, the company reassured investors that the impact of several probes in China could be minor. It said it was expecting a fine of up to $4.5 million over suspected unpaid import taxes to the country.

To stabilise operations in China, the company last December named Iskra Reic as its new international executive vice president, who took over from Leon Wang after Wang was detained by Chinese authorities in October.

Some analysts have said that global drugmakers are undeterred by mounting Sino-U.S. tensions, and are scouring for deals in China to replenish drug pipelines and boost their presence in the world's second-biggest pharmaceutical market.

The FibroGen-AstraZeneca drug, marketed as Evrenzo, is currently approved in China, Europe, Japan, and over 40 other countries for the treatment of anemia in patients with chronic kidney disease.

FibroGen will maintain the rights to the drug, roxadustat, in the U.S. and certain other territories. The U.S.-based biotech said the deal will help it repay its term loans and extend its cash runway through 2027.

The deal is expected to close by mid-2025, pending conditions, including a regulatory review in China, FibroGen said.

(Reporting by Sneha S K in Bengaluru; Editing by Shailesh Kuber, Savio D'Souza and Shinjini Ganguli)