AstraZeneca has entered into an agreement with ProStrakan Group, a subsidiary of Kyowa Hakko Kirin Co. Ltd., for the rights to Moventig (naloxegol) in the European Union (EU), Iceland, Norway, Switzerland, and Liechtenstein. Moventig is an once-daily, oral peripherally-acting mu-opioid receptor antagonist approved in Europe for the treatment of opioid-induced constipation in adult patients who have had an inadequate response to laxative(s).

Under the terms of the agreement, ProStrakan will make an upfront payment to AstraZeneca of $70 million, to acquire the rights to sell and develop Moventig in the EU, Iceland, Norway, Switzerland, and Liechtenstein. ProStrakan will make additional payments contingent on market access decisions in certain European markets and will pay AstraZeneca tiered double-digit royalties on sales as well as sales milestones. In line with AstraZeneca's ongoing interest in Moventig globally, certain strategic decisions will be made jointly between AstraZeneca and ProStrakan in the European territory. The transaction does not include the transfer of any AstraZeneca employees or facilities. Moventig is currently available in the UK, Ireland, Germany, the Nordics, Austria, and Switzerland.

Moventig is part of the exclusive worldwide licence agreement announced in September 2009 between AstraZeneca and Nektar Therapeutics . Moventig was developed using Nektar's oral small-molecule polymer conjugate technology.

Moventig was granted marketing authorization by the European Medicines Agency in December 2014. Outside the EU, it was launched in the US in March 2015 and in Canada in October 2015 under the brand name Movantik. In March 2015, AstraZeneca entered into an agreement with Daiichi Sankyo, Inc., for the co-commercialization of Movantik in the US.

Source: AstraZeneca