Shire acquires Meritage Pharma for $70 million

Shire plca nd Meritage Pharma, Inc. announced that Shire has acquired Meritage, a privately-held company, for an upfront fee of $70 million and additional contingent payments based on the achievement of development and regulatory milestones. With the acquisition, Shire has acquired the global rights to—and undertaken the further development of—Meritage’s Phase 3-ready compound, oral budesonide suspension (OBS), for the treatment of adolescents and adults with eosinophilic esophagitis (EoE), a rare, chronic inflammatory gastrointestinal (GI) disease. This acquisition further enhances Shire’s late-stage pipeline and builds upon the Company’s rare disease and GI commercial infrastructure and expertise. Shire does not expect this acquisition to result in a change to its previously published earnings guidance for 2015. Shire obtained the rights to acquire Meritage in connection with its acquisition of ViroPharma in 2014.