AstraZeneca completes Ardea Biosciences takeover

AstraZeneca has announced the completion of its acquisition of Ardea Biosciences, a biotechnology company based in San Diego.

The merger has been approved by Ardea's stockholders and was finalised on June 19th 2012, with each outstanding share of Ardea common stock being cancelled and converted into the right to receive $32 (20.58 pounds) in cash.

Ardea's business focuses on the development of small-molecule therapeutics for the treatment of serious diseases, with its most advanced clinical-stage product candidates including lesinurad, a treatment for the chronic management of hyperuricaemia in patients with gout.

AstraZeneca believes that the takeover – and the addition of lesinurad – will help to strengthen its late-stage developmental pipeline.

Other ongoing Ardea projects include the cancer therapy BAY 86-9766, which is being developed under a global licence agreement with Bayer HealthCare.

Last month, AstraZeneca announced its support for a major new public-private collaboration designed to boost antibiotics research in Europe, with other participants including GlaxoSmithKline and Sanofi.