* Regulatory disposals help Nestle, AstraZeneca bulk up
* Nestle adds Allergan's medical nutrition product Zenpep
* AstraZeneca regains control of immunology drug brazikumab
By John Miller
ZURICH, Jan 27 (Reuters) - U.S. drugmaker AbbVie's
$63 billion tie-up with Allergan is getting help from
Nestle and AstraZeneca buying up products the
Irish-domiciled company is shedding to placate regulators.
AbbVie is swallowing Allergan to give it control of the
lucrative wrinkle treatment Botox and to diversify a portfolio
heavily dependent on its $19-billion-per-year arthritis drug
Humira, the world's best-selling medicine that is advancing
toward U.S. patent expiration.
Swiss food group Nestle bulked up its medical nutrition
business with Allergan's Zenpep, a product with 2018 sales of
$237 million which treats people whose pancreases do not provide
enough enzymes to digest fats, proteins and sugars.
Nestle did not give financial details, but analysts from
Zuercher Kantonalbank estimated the takeover could have cost the
Vevey, Switzerland-based company more than $1 billion.
Meanwhile, AstraZeneca is regaining rights to brazikumab,
Allergan's experimental drug against Crohn's Disease and
ulcerative colitis. The European Commission said this month the
immunology medicine must be divested because of the risk its
development would be halted after AbbVie's takeover because of
competing medicines.
"These definitive agreements represent significant progress
toward the completion of our acquisition of Allergan," Richard
Gonzalez, AbbVie's chairman and chief executive, said.
With regulators wary of the deal's anti-competitive
potential, rivals are getting a chance to stock their own
product shelves.
Nestle Chief Executive Mark Schneider, who also gets
Allergan's Viokace, another pancreatic enzyme product, in
Monday's deal, is bulking up on nutrition products that combine
properties of medicine and food as the Swiss company expands in
areas where growth may outpace its mainstream food business.
"This is a significant opportunity for our business in the
United States," Greg Behar, head of Nestle Health Science, said
in a statement.
AstraZeneca's pact for brazikumab marks a return of the
inflammation medicine to the British drugmaker's portfolio. In
2016, Astra had struck a licensing deal with Allergan worth up
to $1.5 billion for the medicine.
With its return to AstraZeneca, Allergan has agreed to fund
development costs for brazikumab in Crohn's disease and
ulcerative colitis, including the creation of a companion
diagnostic, AstraZeneca said in a separate statement.
"This agreement creates an opportunity for us to complete
the full development programme and bring this potential new
treatment option to patients as quickly as possible," Mene
Pangalos, Astra's biopharmaceuticals research head.
Even if Allergan must foot the development bill, analysts
appeared underwhelmed, in part because AbbVie's Skyrizi, or
risankizumab, a similar medicine, has a head start.
"This could be another autoimmune product to add to Astra's
portfolio, although it will be somewhat late to the market,"
Liberum's Alistair Campbell wrote in a note to investors.
(Reporting by John Miller in Zurich and Ludwig Burger in
Frankfurt; Editing by Alexander Smith)
Astrazeneca (AZN)
