ASTRAZENECA: AZN: Omthera Acquisition – Valuations defensive, leaves room for upside
AstraZeneca today announced acquisition of Omthera Pharma for $260m in cash and $120m in form of contingent value rights. The acquisition gives AstraZeneca access to fish oil product Epanova, currently in PhIII (NDA filing expected mid 2013) for the treatment of severe hypertriglyceridemia. Epanova clinical profile as a standalone fish oil drug may not be as good as Amarin’s Vascepa (Table X), but we believe the fixed dose combination of Crestor and Epanova should be a potent one and comparable to Vascepa (Chart X). In the STELLAR study, Crestor demonstrated that it is more potent than most other statins (except Lipitor) in the reduction of triglycerides.
