MedImmune, the global biologics R&D arm of AstraZeneca, completed its acquisition of Amplimmune, a privately-held, U.S.-based biologics company focused on developing novel therapeutics in cancer immunology.

The acquisition bolsters MedImmune’s oncology pipeline by obtaining multiple early-stage assets for its immune-mediated cancer therapy (IMT-C) portfolio, including AMP-514, an anti-programmed cell death 1 (PD-1) monoclonal antibody. AMP-514 currently is in late-stage preclinical development with the aim of an IND filing before the end of 2013. Other Amplimmune assets include multiple preclinical molecules targeting the B7 pathways.    

MedImmune acquired Amplimmune for an initial consideration of $225 million and deferred consideration of up to $275 million based on reaching predetermined development milestones.