Frayed Gasket Delaying Astra’s ZS-9 Shows Pharma M&A Perils

When AstraZeneca Plc paid $2.7 billion for an experimental drugmaker in 2015, it had its sights set on a potential blockbuster medicine. Instead, it got a Texas factory riddled with defects and two scathing reviews from U.S. regulators rejecting the treatment.

The facility run by ZS Pharma in Coppell, Texas, is at the heart of the Food and Drug Administration’s objections, which noted a damaged gasket, a cracked ceiling and slack controls at the plant, according to documents obtained by Bloomberg News through a Freedom of Information Act request. That’s prompted European regulators to conduct their own inspection of the ...