Covington Represents Alexion, AstraZeneca Rare Disease, in Deal with Pfizer

WASHINGTON—Covington advised Alexion, AstraZeneca Rare Disease, in its entry into a definitive purchase and license agreement for a portfolio of preclinical gene therapy programs and enabling technologies from Pfizer Inc. Under the agreement, Alexion will purchase and license the assets of Pfizer’s early-stage rare disease gene therapy portfolio for total consideration of up to $1 billion, plus tiered royalties on sales.

As part of the agreement, the transaction will bring to Alexion a number of novel adeno-associated virus (AAV) capsids. AAV capsids have been shown to be an effective mechanism for delivering therapeutic gene cargos for gene therapy and gene editing. These new resources build on Alexion and AstraZeneca’s combined capabilities in genomic medicine.

The Covington deal team, which worked closely with the AstraZeneca and Alexion in-house legal teams, included Mike Riella, Patrick Manchester, Jessica Milner, Gustavo Akkerman, and Sara Needles.