Ab­b­Vie and Al­ler­gan di­vesti­tures are in, and an old As­traZeneca drug comes home

When Ab­b­Vie an­nounced their $63-bil­lion Al­ler­gan ac­qui­si­tion last year, ex­ec­u­tives ac­knowl­edged the two com­pa­nies would have to di­vest some drugs to sat­is­fy reg­u­la­tors. The two main as­sets in dis­cus­sion have now been sold off – and one of them is com­ing home.

As­traZeneca will ac­quire brazikum­ab, Al­ler­gan’s late-stage IL-23 can­di­date for Crohn’s dis­ease and ul­cer­a­tive col­i­tis. The drug was orig­i­nal­ly de­vel­oped by As­traZeneca’s de­funct sub­sidiary Med­Im­mune, in col­lab­o­ra­tion with Am­gen. Al­ler­gan li­censed it for $250 mil­lion up­front and $1.27 bil­lion in mile­stones.

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