LONDON, June 2 (Reuters) - AstraZeneca has sold theEuropean and Latin American rights to its new gout drug Zurampicto private German drugmaker Gruenenthal for up to $230 million,following a similar disposal of U.S. rights to the medicine.
The British group said on Thursday up it would receive up to$230 million in sales and other related milestones over thelifetime of the contract, with Gruenenthal also paying royaltieson sales.
In April, Ironwood Pharmaceuticals bought U.S.marketing rights to the newly approved drug for up to $265million.
AstraZeneca has a strategy of selling certain rights tonon-core medicines as it invests in new drugs. But the disposalof Zurampic has led some analysts to question the success of itspast acquisitions, since AstraZeneca only bought the drug'soriginal developer Ardea Biosciences in 2012 for $1.26 billion. (Reporting by Ben Hirschler. Editing by Jane Merriman)