AstraZeneca Plc, a multinational biopharmaceutical company, is negotiating a partnership agreement with the American Summit Therapeutics Inc. This is reported in a press release from AstraZeneca.
As part of the deal, AstraZeneca expects to acquire a license to manufacture ivonescimab for the treatment of lung cancer for $15 billion.
The financial terms of the proposed deal are being clarified and may include an upfront payment of several billion dollars and several phased payments. Summit also held talks with other major pharmaceutical companies.
If a final agreement is reached, the deal will be the second licensing deal since the beginning of June 2025. In particular, Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. has entered into an agreement with BioNTech SE to acquire a license to develop an innovative cancer drug for $11.1 billion, which has a similar effect to the Summit treatment method.
Earlier, Summit entered into an agreement with the Chinese biotech company Akeso Inc. to develop the drug ivonescimab and conducted research in China, which showed that the drug surpassed the best-selling cancer drug Keytruda, developed by Merck, which led to a sharp increase in Summit shares.
Summit intends to obtain approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, which has requested statistically significant evidence of an increase in overall survival to grant such a permit.
Summit Therapeutics is an American biopharmaceutical company developing innovative treatments in oncology. The main activity of the company is the development of ivoncimab (a bispecific antibody for the effect on PD-1 and VEGF receptors for the treatment of non-small cell lung cancer). A controlling 75% stake in Summit belongs to CEO Bob Duggan. The headquarters is located in Miami (Florida).
AstraZeneca is a British—Swedish biopharmaceutical company in the field of development and manufacture of prescription drugs, registered in the UK. The headquarters are located in Cambridge (England) and Södertälje (Sweden). AstraZeneca's market value is estimated at 158.7 billion pounds ($216.5 billion).
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