July 06, 2021: AstraZeneca’s proposed acquisition of Alexion Pharmaceuticals, (Alexion) has achieved an important step towards completion by having cleared the European Commission review.
The clearance follows competition clearances in the United States, Japan and other countries globally, with a complete list available on astrazeneca.com. Regulatory clearance in the UK is pending and remains a requirement to complete the deal.
Marc Dunoyer, Executive Director and Chief Financial Officer, said: “We are pleased to have secured clearance from the European Commission for the proposed acquisition of Alexion, a pioneer in the discovery and development of medicines for rare diseases.
We are now another step closer to closing the acquisition and combining the two companies to create a leader in immunology and precision medicines. We continue to progress towards the completion of the acquisition during this quarter.”
The proposed acquisition, first announced in December 2020, would enhance the Company’s scientific presence in immunology by adding Alexion’s innovative complement-technology platform and an extensive pipeline.
Rare diseases represent a high-growth disease area with rapid innovation and significant unmet medical needs. Shareholders of both companies overwhelmingly supported the acquisition by their votes on 11 May 2021.
Subject to completing the acquisition, a group focusing on rare diseases will be created. This group will be named ‘Alexion, AstraZeneca Rare Disease’, and will be headquartered in Boston, US.
Rare diseases
Over 7,000 rare diseases are known today, and only approximately 5% have treatments approved by the US Food and Drug Administration.
Demand in medicines for rare diseases is forecasted to grow by a low double-digit percentage in the future.
Important additional information
In connection with AstraZeneca’s proposed acquisition of Alexion (the Acquisition), AstraZeneca filed a registration statement on Form F-4 with the SEC on 12 April 2021 (the Registration Statement), which has been declared effective by the United States Securities and Exchange Commission, and which includes a document that serves as a prospectus of AstraZeneca and a proxy statement of Alexion (the proxy statement/prospectus), Alexion filed a proxy statement with the SEC (the proxy statement) on 12 April 2021, and each party will file other documents regarding the Acquisition with the SEC.
Investors and security holders of Alexion are urged to carefully read the entire Registration Statement and proxy statement/prospectus or proxy statement and other relevant documents filed with the SEC when they become available, because they will contain important information.
Investors and security holders may obtain the Registration Statement and the proxy statement/prospectus or the proxy statement free of charge from the SEC’s website or from AstraZeneca or Alexion as described in the paragraphs below.
The documents filed by AstraZeneca with the SEC may be obtained free of charge at the SEC’s website at www.sec.gov. “
