AstraZeneca PLC and Californian biotech, ZS Pharma Inc. signed a deal of pay $2.7 billion which will bolster the drug maker's cardiovascular disease portfolio as it faces the loss of exclusivity in the USA for its best-selling cholesterol-lowering drug Crestor.
The drug is now under assessment by the FDA, with a target review date of May 26 next year, while a submission in Europe is planned by the end of 2015.
AstraZeneca announced it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire ZS Pharma, a biopharmaceutical company based in San Mateo, California. 
Buying ZS Pharma gives the United Kingdom pharma major rights to potassium-binding compound ZS-9 (sodium zirconium cyclosilicate), which it describes as a "potential best-in-class" treatment for hyperkalaemia with sales potential in excess of $1bn a year. Astra said the drug could generate peak annual sales of more than $1 billion. That closing is subject to customary conditions that include the tender of a majority of the outstanding ZS Pharma shares and the expiration or earlier termination of the waiting period under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act of 1976. The acquisition will help the acquirer to develop novel treatments for hyperkalemia (high potassium levels). The company expects ZS-9 to start generating revenue next year. Analyst Lugo wrote that AstraZeneca has much to gain from ZS Pharma as well. Co-founders Al Guillem and Jeffrey Keyser together have more than 60 years of experience in the pharmaceutical industry, according to the company.
Last decade, ZS Pharma's founder Al Guillem worked for Adams Laboratories in Fort Worth, which developed the over-the-counter medication Mucinex. The transaction should close by the end of this year.
The deal is expected to strengthen AstraZeneca's cardiovascular disease portfolio, and should boost earnings by 2018. The two companies ended up on opposite sides of a controversy involving an expectorant called Guaifenesin.
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