AstraZeneca (AZN) has spun out six of its early-stage autoimmune drugs into a separate biotech company. The new group – known as Viela Bio – will be funded with $250m (£180m) from a consortium of investors with AstraZeneca as the largest minority shareholder. The pharma giant’s current head of respiratory and autoimmunology has been named as chief executive.
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The sharing of early-stage medical assets is a growing trend in the biopharma industry, as the drug development process gets more complex. Astra sent many of its drugs – both commercial and in development – to new homes in the last few years and signed partnerships with peers to speed up the path to approval.
