AstraZeneca licenses inflammatory disease candidate to Allergan

LONDON – 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. –Reuters