AstraZeneca PLC (AZN) plans to acquire biotech firm Amolyt Pharma for $1.05 billion in cash, the drugmaker said Thursday, boosting its pipeline of drugs to treat rare diseases.

Amolyt Pharma is in late-stage development of a drug for hypoparathyroidism, a deficiency in parathyroid hormone production tha꧑t can lead to chronic kidney disease. AstraZeneca said hypoparathyroidism affects 115,000 people in the U.S. and 107,000 people in the European Union, approximately 80% of whom are women.

This 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:acquisition will strengthen Alexion, As🎉traZeneca's rare disease arm, the company s🐈aid.

Under the terms of the agreement, AstraZeneca will acquire all of Amolyt Pharma’s outstandi▨ng shares for $1.05 billion, including an $800 million upfront payment and an additional $250 million upon achievement of a specified regulatory milestone.

AstraZeneca said it expects the deal to close by the end of the third quarter of 2024.

Th⛦e Anglo-Swedish drugmaker has been on a buying spree since early last year.

It acquired 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:Pf🌠izer's rare disease gene therapy portfolio; CinCor Pharma, a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company; and 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:biopharma firm Icosavax to expand into cutting-edge vaccine technology. AstraZeneca also signed a licensing agreemeᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ𒀱ᩚᩚᩚnt for an experimental weig𝔉ht-loss pill with Chinese company Eccogene and is developing breast cancer treatments 🌺with Japan's Daiichi Sankyo.

AstraZeneca shares were do⭕wn 0.73% at $67.09 at 12:22 p.m. ET 🍎Thursday and are off about 3% in the past year.