AstraZeneca buying Ardea in $1.26 bln deal

By Robert Broens: Shares of Ardea Biosciences (RDEA) closed the first trading day of the week 52% higher closing at $31.62 after AstraZeneca PLC announced it has reached an agreement to acquire the company. The deal

AstraZeneca’s efforts to buy Ardea come after the British drug company GlaxoSmithKline offered $2.6 billion last week to acquire Human Genome Sciences, another biotech company.

Anglo-Swedish drugs giant AstraZeneca on Monday said it had agreed to buy US biotechnology company Ardea Biosciences in a deal worth around $1.26 billion (956 million euros)."AstraZeneca and Ardea Biosciences, Inc. today announced that they have entered into a definitive merger agreement, pursuant to which AstraZeneca will acquire Ardea, a San Diego, California-based biotechnology company focused on the development of small-molecule therapeutics," a statement said.

The Burrill Report submits: AstraZeneca (AZN) said it will eliminate an additional 8,000 jobs or about 12 percent of its workforce as it seeks to cut costs in the face of declining revenue and lowered its forecast for 2010. The announcement came as the company reported earnings that fell short of expectation. The company said the next five years will be difficult as key products come off-patent.

LONDON (AP) — Anglo-Swedish pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca has settled a patent dispute with Watson Laboratories, Inc., removing a threat against its top-selling cholesterol-control drug, Crestor.

The European drugmaker agreed on Monday to buy the biotech company Ardea Biosciences for $1.26 billion, the latest in a recent series of deals in the global pharmaceutical industry.

LONDON (AP) — Anglo-Swedish pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca PLC warned over expiring patents on its medicines as the company announced a 37 percent fall in full-year net profit.

We are maintaining our Neutral recommendation on Ardea Biosciences Inc. (RDEA) with a target price of $20. Ardea Biosciences, headquartered in San Diego, CA, focuses on the discovery and development of small-molecule therapeutics for the treatment of gout, human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and cancer. Ardea recently reported disappointing second quarter 2010 results.