(LONDON) The Swedish-British pharmaceutical giant Astrazeneca announced on Friday the acquisition of a portfolio of drugs to treat rare diseases from its American rival Pfizer for an amount of up to 1 billion dollars, supplemented by royalties.

At the same time, the group publishes a net profit group share almost fivefold in the first half to 3.6 billion dollars.

Astrazeneca and its subsidiary specializing in cutting-edge treatments for rare diseases Alexion “announce a firm agreement to acquire” a portfolio of gene therapy programs in pre-clinical development from Pfizer, Astrazeneca said in its press release.

The group states that there are “over 7000 known rare diseases and it is believed that 80% are caused by genetic mutations. Genomic medicine is therefore designed to treat or cure these diseases by acting on the deficient gene.”

The transaction is expected to close in the third quarter.

The turnover is in very small increase of 4% to 22.3 billion dollars, weighted by a drop of more than 2 billion dollars in sales of drugs or vaccines against COVID-19, but the result is boosted by an increase in margins on the sale of drugs, particularly those in oncology.

The group is indeed highlighting strong growth in non-COVID-19 drug sales, particularly in oncology (22%), and Hargreaves Lansdown analyst Derren Nathan points out that they are among “the most profitable in the group”. .

The stock was up 4.36% at 11,166 pence on the London Stock Exchange at 4:30 a.m. EST.

CEO Pascal Soriot is pleased with “8 drugs generating more than $1 billion in revenue in the first half, demonstrating the strength of our business,” with many treatments also in clinical trials.

He also notes that the group has invested $400 million to plant trees as part of its sustainability program.