Astrazeneca gains rights to Almirall respiratory franchise

Astrazeneca has gained the development and commercialisation rights to Almirall's respiratory franchise, giving it access to all on-market revenues, the drugs maker said.The group will pay an initial $875m, plus up to a further $1.22bn in development, launch and sales-related milestones.The deal, which was first announced at the end of July, is expected to be neutral to core earnings per share in 2015 and accrttive from 2016.Astra has gained the rights to a number of Almirall's franchises as well as Almirall's Sofotec subsidiary, which develops innovative proprietary devices.Astra's chief executive officer, Pascal Soriot, said: "Respiratory disease is one of our company's key therapeutic areas, and the combination of these exciting portfolios reinforces our long-term commitment to patients with asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease."Our expanded product and device offering will enable us to bring better treatment options to patients."