---
title: "AstraZeneca agrees to invest $2 billion in Summit, without the drug rights"
url: "https://etf.net/news/astrazeneca-agrees-to-invest-2-billion-in-summit-without-the-drug-rights-2026-09-28"
published_at: "2026-09-29T00:13:08.518Z"
updated_at: "2026-09-29T00:13:08.518Z"
byline: "ETF.net Research"
---

# AstraZeneca agrees to invest $2 billion in Summit, without the drug rights

AstraZeneca agreed on Monday, September 28, to invest $2 billion in Summit Therapeutics for rights equal to about 12% of the company, without a license to its cancer drug, ivonescimab.

By ETF.net Research. Published Sep 29, 2026.

AstraZeneca agreed on Monday, September 28, to invest **$2 billion** in Summit Therapeutics for rights equal to about 12% of the company, the companies said. It is not taking the right to develop or sell ivonescimab, Summit's experimental cancer drug. The FDA's goal is to decide on that drug by November 14.

The stake would be preferred shares that can turn into common stock. Along with those shares, the companies have a binding agreement to study ivonescimab with sonesitatug vedotin, an AstraZeneca drug, in some gastrointestinal cancers. Ivonescimab is one drug aimed at two targets, PD-1 and VEGF.

The $2 billion is nearly three times the $690.7 million of cash and short-term investments Summit reported as of June 30. Because the money arrives as new shares, existing holders would own less of the company. In the first half of the year, Summit used $263.4 million of cash in its operations.

The other large deals on this class of drug were built differently. In May 2025, Pfizer paid $1.25 billion upfront for the exclusive right, outside China, to develop and sell a similar experimental medicine. That payment bought the license, and it is not a stake Pfizer can sell.

In June 2025, Bristol Myers Squibb agreed to pay BioNTech $1.5 billion upfront and $2 billion more through 2028 in payments that do not depend on success. The two will develop and sell a PD-L1 and VEGF drug together and split the costs evenly.

AstraZeneca's $2 billion would buy shares it can hold or sell, and the studies it has agreed to sponsor pair ivonescimab with its own drugs.

Ivonescimab is not approved in the United States. The application asks the FDA to approve it, with chemotherapy, for EGFR-mutated nonsquamous lung cancer after EGFR-targeted therapy.

On September 15, Summit reported an updated survival result from its HARMONi study, a hazard ratio of 0.76. On that measure, a number below 1 means fewer deaths than among patients who received chemotherapy alone. Summit called the result nominal, so it is not the trial's original test, and an earlier analysis had not shown a statistically significant survival benefit.

In its quarterly report, Summit said the FDA has noted that a statistically significant survival benefit is necessary for approval in this setting.

Sonesitatug vedotin is an antibody-drug conjugate, a drug that carries a toxin to tumors showing a marker called Claudin 18.2. AstraZeneca is the intended sponsor, and the companies intend to start the studies imminently. Each company will supply its own drug and help pay.

"A core pillar of our oncology strategy is to broaden the reach of our ADC portfolio as the backbone of treatment across tumor types with combinations alongside next-generation immunotherapies," said Susan Galbraith, AstraZeneca's executive vice president for oncology haematology research and development.

A wider plan to combine ivonescimab with other AstraZeneca cancer drugs is not binding, Summit said, so those studies are not assured.

Each company keeps the right to develop and sell its own medicine, the companies said. Summit holds the rights to ivonescimab in the Americas, Europe, Japan, the Middle East and Africa, and Akeso, which designed the drug, holds the other markets.

After the close, Summit shares were indicated at $18.07 at 7:40 p.m. Eastern time, up **16.7%** from the $15.48 close. That indication sat just under the $18.36 AstraZeneca agreed to pay.

In the latest reported holdings, Summit was 0.56% of XBI, SPDR's fund of US biotechnology stocks, and 0.18% of IBB, iShares' fund of US biotechnology stocks.

AstraZeneca's US-listed shares were indicated little changed from the $166.15 close at 7:44 p.m. Eastern time. The $2 billion is under 1% of its market value of about $258 billion.

Summit said the $18.36 price, 18.6% above Monday's close, is the average trading price over the five days of the prior week, plus 10%. Once every share that could be issued is counted, the stake is 10.6% rather than about 12%.

Summit expects the purchase to close by the end of the week if customary conditions are met. Turning the preferred shares into common stock would still need regulatory clearance, AstraZeneca said, and Summit has agreed to register those shares so they can be resold.

The open question is whether the FDA treats that nominal result as the survival benefit it has said is necessary. Its goal date is November 14.

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