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Netherlands based-Acerta is developing cancer drugs that use the
body's own defenses against the disease.
On Monday, Acerta reported that 95 percent of patients with
chronic lymphocytic leukemia positively responded to its
experimental drug acalabrutinib.
Acerta was not immediately available to comment. AstraZeneca
declined to comment on the WSJ report on Friday.
AstraZeneca has been trying to boost its pipeline recently as
sales of the company's top-selling drugs have faltered.
A new lung cancer pill from AstraZeneca was approved last month
for patients whose disease worsened after treatment with other
therapies. The company pegged sales of the drug, Tagrisso, at $3
billion.
The green light for Tagrisso follows AstraZeneca's recent launch
of Lynparza for ovarian cancer, taking the company closer to its
goal of bringing six new cancer treatments to market by 2020.
The company said last month it would buy ZS Pharma <ZSPH.O> $2.7
billion to secure the biotech firm's technology to develop novel
treatments for hyperkalaemia, or high potassium levels.
AstraZeneca's U.S.-listed shares were down nearly 1 percent at
$33.20 in afternoon trade, roughly the same level as before the
WSJ report.
(Reporting by Vidya L Nathan in Bengaluru; Editing by Savio
D'Souza)
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