(Jan 9): AstraZeneca said on Monday it has struck a deal to buy UUSS-based biopharmaceutical firm CinCor Pharma Inc CINC.O for up to US$1.8 billion to strengthen its pipeline of heart and kidney drugs and grow beyond its mainstay cancer business.

AstraZeneca said it will pay $26 per CinCor share in cash, or US$1.3 billion in total, a premium of nearly 121% to the stock's closing price on Friday.

The offer also includes a non-tradable contingent value right of US$10 per share in cash payable upon a specified regulatory submission of CinCor's baxdrostat, which is being developed to treat conditions including high blood pressure and kidney disease.

Including this, the offer represents a 206% premium to CinCor's shares close on Friday, Astra added.

The London-listed group said it would be looking to combine CinCor's lead compound baxdrostat with its own Farxiga, which is quickly growing in sales beyond an initial use in diabetes after Astra won a headstart approval to treat chronic kidney disease.

Farxiga, whose sales jumped by almost 50% during the first nine months of last year to reach US$3.2 billion, is set to face competition in kidney disease from drugs produced by Boehringer Ingelheim and Eli Lilly's Jardiance.

"We believe (Astra's bid) offers the prospect of accelerating the development timeline and expanding the breadth of benefits patients with cardiorenal diseases might obtain from baxdrostat, if approved," CinCor's Chief Executive Marc de Garidel said.

Baxdrostat in November failed to meet its main goal in a mid-stage study as it could not clearly be shown to reduce uncontrolled high blood pressure, but CinCor said it would start a larger Phase III trial during the first half of this year.

At the time, CinCor shares slumped by more than 50% on the news. The US company's shares closed at US$11.78 on Friday, more than a quarter below CinCor's initial public offering price of US$16 per share in January 2022.