Almirall, a global company based in Barcelona dedicated to providing valuable medicines through its R&D, agreements and alliances, has completed the transaction to transfer to AstraZeneca the rights to Almirall's respiratory franchise after all closing conditions have been satisfied. AZ now will own the rights for the development and commercialization of Almirall's existing proprietary respiratory business, including rights to revenues from Almirall's partnerships, as well as its pipeline of investigational novel therapies.

The franchise includes Eklira; Duaklir, the combination of aclidinium with formoterol (LAMA/LABA) that has received a positive opinion from the CHMP in the E.U. and is being developed in the U.S.; LAS100977, a once-daily long-acting beta2-agonist (LABA) in phase II development; an M3 antagonist beta2-agonist (MABA) platform in preclinical development (LAS191351, LAS194871) and phase I development (LAS190792); and multiple preclinical programs.

Almirall Sofotec, an Almirall subsidiary focused on the development of innovative proprietary devices, also transfers to AZ. Additionally, 719 Almirall employees will transfer to AZ. 

Almirall in July announced the strategic transaction, which includes an upfront cash consideration upon completion of $875 million and up to $1.22 billion related to development, launch and sales-related milestones. AZ also has agreed to make various sales-related payments.