Here’s a note of caution for the strategic planners - not just any biotech will do. Just ask AstraZeneca shareholders. Some were in a snit at the drugmaker’s annual meeting yesterday over the $15.2 billion price tag for MedImmune. One called it an “act of desperation.”

Louis Schweitzer, AstraZeneca’s chairman, was defiant: “This is clearly not an act of desperation. The MedImmune acquisition was considered by the board months ahead of the decision to buy it. In every acquisition, there is an element of risk, specifically if you make an acquisition of a company which is firstly valued because of its future and not its present profit.”

David Brennan, the drugmaker’s ceo, went on to say that MedImmune was a good strategic fit. He said it accelerated the company’s stated goal of moving into biologics, already started by the acquisition of Cambridge Antibody Technology last year.

But Marcus Wallenberg, a non-executive director, a high price is being paid: “It is definitely a large amount of money but we also believe that this complements the area of biologics, which will be complementary to AstraZeneca going forward.”

The lesson: expect more scrutiny and criticism of such deals. Just because the pipeline is thin doesn’t mean shareholders will automatically applaud scooping up any old biotech.

Source: The Guardian[tags]AstraZeneca, MedImmune[/tags]