Allergan To Acquire Worldwide Rights To Merck's Migraine Development Program

(RTTNews) - Allergan plc (AGN) and Merck (MRK) announced they have entered into an agreement under which Allergan will acquire the exclusive worldwide rights to Merck's investigational small molecule oral calcitonin gene-related peptide receptor antagonists, which are being developed for the treatment and prevention of migraine.

Allergan will acquire these rights for an upfront payment of $250 million, $125 million of which is payable upon HSR clearance and $125 million of which is payable in April of 2016. Merck will additionally be entitled to receive potential development and commercial milestone payments and tiered double-digit royalties based on commercialization of the programs.

Allergan said its 2015 earnings-per-share forecast provided on May 11, 2015 is unchanged as a result of the acquisition.