Scandinavia Serves Up Two Partners For Alexion, In Its Rare Disease Sweet-Spot

Alexion Pharmaceuticals Inc. is continuing to search out potential novel therapies in the complement and rare diseases spaces, areas it knows well, with the latest candidates expected to come from collaborations with two Scandinavian biotechs, Sweden’s Affibody AB and Denmark’s Zealand Pharma AS, in deals worth a potential combined value of $1.3bn.

Boston, MA-based Alexion has entered into other tie-ups in the rare diseases area over the past year or so, involving both product- and company-oriented deals, aimed at growing its R&D pipeline to eventually replace its aging complement inhibitor blockbuster, Soliris (eculizumab). These include tie-ups with Caelum Biosciences Inc. in light-chain amyloidosis, announced in January 2019, with Complement Pharma on neurodegenerative disorders (June 2018), and the purchase of Wilson Therapeutics Inc. and Syntimmune Inc.