AstraZeneca has agreed to divest the US rights to Entocort (budesonide), a gastroenterology medicine for patients with mild to moderate Crohn's disease, to Perrigo Company for $380 million. Under the deal, Perrigo acquires the rights to sell Entocort capsules and the authorized generic Entocort capsules marketed by Par Pharmaceuticals. The transaction does not include the transfer of any AstraZeneca employees or facilities.

US product sales of Entocort were $89 million in the year-to-date (at nine months 2015). The transaction is expected to complete by the end of 2015, subject to customary closing conditions.

AstraZeneca’s agreement with Perrigo, along with its agreement entered into in July 2015 with Tillotts Pharma AG, part of the Zeria Group, for the divestment of global rights to Entocort outside the US, completes the global divestment of Entocort. AstraZeneca said that the drug is no longer part of its strategic focus.

Source: AstraZeneca