(Alliance News) - AbbVie Inc on Monday said it will be selling both a Crohn's disease drug and a medical nutrition business as part of its Allergan merger.
AbbVie is selling Zenpep, which sells gastrointestinal medication, to Swiss food and drink giant Nestle SA for an undisclosed sum.
Nestle said the purchase from AbbVie is aimed at expanding its medical nutrition business. Zenpep delivered net sales of USD237 million in 2018, Nestle noted.
Greg Behar, head of Nestle Health Science, commented: "Nestle's acquisition of Zenpep is a strategic decision that will enhance our growing medical nutrition portfolio. This is a significant opportunity for our business in the US to add a complementary product to our existing range of nutrition products that support food ingestion, digestion and absorption.
"We have extensive experience in Zenpep's therapeutic areas of digestive diseases through our medical nutrition business and will leverage those capabilities as we grow this new business."
Chicago-based AbbVie, which is currently in the process of buying Dublin-based pharmaceutical firm Allergan, is also selling the rights to brazikumab to FTSE 100 pharma giant AstraZeneca PLC.
Brazikumab is in development for the treatment of Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis, both gastrointestinal conditions. AbbVie did not disclose any financial details for this sale.
"These definitive agreements represent significant progress toward the completion of our acquisition of Allergan," said Richard Gonzalez, chair & chief executive of AbbVie.
"The new combined organisation will be well-positioned to deliver on our mission to patients with a broad portfolio of innovative therapies."
AbbVie and Allergan agreed to the takeover in June. The deal sees AbbVie pay Allergan shareholders in both cash and shares, valuing the Irish firm at USD63 billion.
By George Collard; georgecollard@alliancenews.com
Copyright 2020 Alliance News Limited. All Rights Reserved.
Astrazeneca (AZN)
