AstraZeneca has entered into an agreement with Aralez Pharmaceuticals Trading DAC, a subsidiary of Mississauga, Canada-based Aralez Pharmaceuticals, a specialty pharmaceutical company, for the rights to branded and authorized generic Toprol-XL (metoprolol succinate) in the US. Toprol-XL is a beta-blocker medicine for treating hypertension, angina, and heart failure.

Under the agreement, Aralez will pay AstraZeneca $175 million to acquire the rights to Toprol-XL tablets in the US and the authorized generic medicine marketed by Par Pharmaceuticals. Aralez will also pay AstraZeneca up to $48 million in milestone and sales-related payments as well as mid-teen percentage royalties on sales. AstraZeneca will continue to manufacture and supply Toprol-XL and the authorized generic medicine to Aralez. The transaction is expected to be completed in the fourth quarter of 2016, subject to customary closing conditions.

The agreement does not include the transfer of any AstraZeneca employees or facilities. In 2015, US product sales for Toprol-XL and the AstraZeneca share from the sale of the authorized generic medicine was $89 million.

Source: AstraZeneca