Ferring acquires rights to gastroenterology compound

Ferring Pharmaceuticals has announced the acquisition of rights to a promising new gastroenterology compound from Albireo.

The licence agreement gives Ferring rights to develop and commercialise elobixibat, a first-in-class compound for chronic idiopathic constipation (CIC) and irritable bowel syndrome with constipation (IBS-C).

Under the terms of the contract, Ferring will be able to market the product globally with the exception of Japan and a small number of Asian markets, in exchange for an upfront fee and several future milestone-based payments.

Elobixibat will soon enter phase III trials for the CIC indication, as well as phase IIb trials against IBS-C.

Michel Pettigrew, president of the executive board and chief operating officer at Ferring, said: "Elobixibat perfectly complements our gastroenterology portfolio, which includes Pentasa for inflammatory bowel disease and Picoprep for bowel cleansing."

Last month, the company made a donation of $10 million (6.42 million pounds) to the Salk Institute for Biological Studies in order to support its medical research efforts.