AstraZeneca boosts early respiratory medicine with Pieris deal

AstraZeneca boosted its early-stage respiratory medicine pipeline on Wednesday by signing a deal with Pieris Pharmaceuticals to develop novel inhaled drugs that could fight asthma in new ways.

Pieris will get upfront and near-term milestone payments of $57.5 million and up to $2.1 billion if the experimental drugs go on to become commercially successful.

Pieris will be responsible for advancing its preclinical lead candidate, PRS-060, into initial Phase I clinical trials in 2017, the two companies said.

(Reporting by Ben Hirschler)