AstraZeneca (AZ) has announced that it will be expanding its rare disease unit’s late-stage pipeline by acquiring Amolyt Pharma for more than $1bn.

The deal will build on Alexion’s bone metabolism franchise with the addition of eneboparatide (AZP-3601), a late-stage investigational therapeutic peptide currently being evaluated as a treatment for hypoparathyroidism.

Affecting an estimated 107,000 people in the EU, approximately 80% of whom are women, hypoparathyroidism is a rare condition defined by a deficiency of parathyroid hormone (PTH) that results in decreased calcium and elevated phosphorus levels in the blood.

Eneboparatide is a PTH receptor 1 agonist with “a novel mechanism of action rationally designed to meet the therapeutic goals of hypoparathyroidism,” the company said.

Under the terms of the agreement, which is expected to close in the third quarter of this year, AZ will acquire all of Amolyt’s outstanding shares for a total consideration of up to $1.05bn.

This includes an upfront payment of $800m plus the right for Amolyt shareholders to receive an additional contingent payment of $250m payable upon achievement of a specified regulatory milestone.

Ipsen has entered into an agreement worth up to $900m to gain exclusive worldwide rights to develop and commercialise Sutro Biopharma’s preclinical antibody-drug conj ugate (ADC) targeting solid tumours.

ADCs are a new class of cancer therapies designed to precisely target and kill tumour cells while sparing healthy ones.

Sutro’s STRO-003, which will be the first ADC candidate to be added to Ipsen’s portfolio, targets a tumour antigen that is known to be overexpressed in many different cancer types, including solid tumours and haematological malignancies.

Mary Jane Hinrichs, senior vice president and head of early development at Ipsen, said: “The potential for ADCs in oncology is well documented and we are excited by the addition of STRO-003...”

Under the terms of the agreement, Ipsen will assume responsibility for phase 1 preparation activities for the asset, such as the submission of an Investigational New Drug application, and all subsequent clinical-development activities and global commercialisation activities.

In exchange, Sutro will be eligible to receive up to $900m in potential upfront, development, regulatory and commercial milestone payments, including approximately $90m in near-term payments, and tiered royalties on global sales.

Johnson & Johnson’s (J&J) Rybrevant (amivantamab-vmjw) has been approved by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to treat a subset of non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients.

The bispecific antibody is now approved for use alongside carboplatin and pemetrexed chemotherapy for the first-line treatment of locally advanced or metastatic NSCLC with epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) exon 20 insertion mutations.

Rybrevant has also been granted traditional approval to treat adults with locally advanced or metastatic NSCLC with EGFR exon 20 insertion mutations whose disease has progressed on or after platinum-based chemotherapy, upgrading the FDA’s May 2021 accelerated approval for the drug in this indication.

NSCLC accounts for up to 85% of all lung cancer cases worldwide and alterations in EGFR are the most common actionable driver mutations in NSCLC.

The FDA’s latest decisions on the drug are supported by positive results from the late-stage PAPILLON study, in which Rybrevant plus chemotherapy was associated with a 61% reduction in the risk of disease progression or death compared to chemotherapy alone.

Results also showed treatment with Rybrevant plus chemotherapy improved objective response rate and progression-free survival.