AstraZeneca licenses inflammatory disease candidate to Allergan

[October 03, 2016]  LONDON (Reuters) - Britain's AstraZeneca said it had licensed a potential medicine for inflammatory diseases to Allergan for an upfront payment of $250 million and potential additional payments of up to $1.27 billion.

AstraZeneca said the drug developed by its global biologics research and development arm MedImmune was being testing as a treatment for moderate-to-severe Crohn's disease and was ready to start trials for ulcerative colitis.

Amgen Inc, which has been collaborating with MedImmune on developing the medicine, will receive a third of all payments and royalties received from Allergan, AstraZeneca said on Monday.

(Reporting by Paul Sandle; editing by Sarah Young)

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