Europe's third largest drug firm AstraZeneca has agreed to buy privately owned biotech firm KuDOS Pharmaceuticals for €177 million in the latest move to bolster its product range.
The cash acquisition of the British cancer specialist, which is expected to close early next year, comes just one day after an €840 million heart drug deal with US-based AtheroGenics.
KuDOS will lift AstraZeneca's presence in cancer medicine - traditionally one of the company's strongest areas but a business where it tripped up last year when newly launched lung cancer pill Iressa failed to boost survival in a key study.
Shares in AstraZeneca were 0.6 per cent higher at stg£27.94 on the London Stock Exchange this morning.
Founded by Cambridge University professor Stephen Jackson, KuDOS focuses on the development of cancer treatments based on the inhibition of DNA repair. Inhibitors have the potential to kill cancer cells either as stand-alone therapy or by enhancing the effectiveness of chemotherapy and radiotherapy.
KuDOS, which has around 75 employees at two sites in Britain, has one compound in initial Phase I clinical development known as KU 59436, which could help fight breast and ovarian cancer, plus several other pre-clinical compounds and programmes.