Oxford Biomedica. 2005 to see 'Huge value creation' (Panmure Gordon)

Just had a few minutes peace reading the FT before going to visit the family. There's plenty of interesting comment in their report on the Astra Zeneca deal.
They mention a deal the previous day betweenn AZ and Atherogenetics, whereby AZ pay $50m upfront and milestone payments up to $1bn for a cardio-vascular product that is 'currently in the final pre-launch phase 3 stage of clinical trials'. The FT goes on that 'The two transactions highlight a growing trend, particularly in the final period of 2005, for aquisitons and high priced licensing dealsbetween large pharma and smaller biotechs, as the former attempts to boost their research and development pipelines'.
'They also suggest that some UK biotechnology companies are able to prove at least as commercially attractive as their european and and US counterparts'.
'The two therapeutic areas targetted - cardiovascular and cancer - are the two highest selling for the pharmaceutical sector, with the latter predicted to shortly outstrip the former'.

And with that i wish you all a merry christmas.