Shire plc (LSE:SHP; NASDAQ:SHPG) said it will sell its cancer business, including acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) drug Oncaspar pegaspargase, to Servier (Suresnes, France) for $2.4 billion in cash.
In addition to Oncaspar, Servier will gain rights outside of the U.S. and Taiwan to pancreatic cancer drug Onivyde irinotecan, plus Shire's calaspargase pegol (Cal-PEG; SHP663), which is under FDA review to treat ALL in a first-line setting. Servier will also acquire separate early stage immuno-oncology collaborations with Precision BioSciences Inc. (Durham, N.C.) to develop CAR T cell therapies for up to six targets and with Symphogen A/S (Lyngby, Denmark) to develop checkpoint inhibitors for up to six targets. Shire's cancer teams will join Servier under the deal, which is expected to close in 2Q18 or 3Q18...