Shire gets US Rights to Resolor

Ireland-headquartered specialty biopharma firm Shire (LSE: SHP) says that it has acquired the rights to develop and market Resolor (prucalopride) in the USA in an agreement with Janssen Pharmaceutica, a subsidiary of US health care giant Johnson & Johnson (NYSE: JNJ). Terms of the agreement have not been disclosed.

Resolor, a prokinetic, is part of Shire's gastrointestinal (GI) portfolio in Europe and is approved for use in 33 countries for the symptomatic treatment of chronic constipation in women in whom laxatives fail to provide adequate relief. Resolor is currently available in Germany, Ireland, Belgium, France, Greece and the UK, and will be commercially available in Italy in mid-January 2012. Additional launches throughout Europe are planned for 2012. As yet, Resolor is not approved by the US Food and Drug Administration.

"We are excited about the opportunity to develop Resolor in the USA and we look forward to working with the FDA and the GI physician community to define the path forward for registration of the medicine as a treatment for chronic constipation in the USA," said Roger Adsett, senior vice president of Shire's global GI business.