Astrazeneca Share News (AZN)

(Sharecast News) - Redx Pharma shares soared on Tuesday after it signed a licensing agreement with AstraZeneca for its porcupine inhibitor for fibrotic diseases, RXC006.
AstraZeneca will take RXC006 forward into clinical development, targeting fibrotic diseases including idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF).

Under the terms of the agreement, AstraZeneca will pay Redx several early milestones that amount to $17m, by the time of successful commencement of a phase 1 study. Redx will also be eligible to receive up to a further $360m from AstraZeneca in development, regulatory and commercial milestone payments throughout the course of the programme should it successfully reach these milestones.

Chief executive officer Lisa Anson said: "We are excited by the potential of porcupine inhibition as a novel approach to tackling fibrotic-associated diseases where there is a real patient need.

"This agreement, where AstraZeneca will license this first in class porcupine inhibitor for IPF and progress it into development, highlights, once again, Redx's ability to generate molecules that have significant potential as novel medicines."

At 0917 BST, Redx shares were up 220% to 80p.