By Raghav Mahobe

(Reuters) -Ironwood Prescribed drugs Inc mentioned on Monday it might purchase Switzerland-based drug developer VectivBio Holding AG for $1.15 billion, including a promising remedy for digestive issues to its portfolio.

Ironwood has provided $17 per share for VectivBio, a premium of about 43% to the inventory’s final shut.

VectivBio’s shares have been at $16.21 in morning commerce, whereas Ironwood’s inventory fell 4.5% to $10.

The deal, anticipated to shut within the second half, will assist ease Massachusetts-based Ironwood’s dependence on bowel illness drug Linzess, which it sells together with AbbVie (NYSE:).

AbbVie reported first-quarter U.S. gross sales of $250.2 million from Linzess.

VectivBio is creating apraglutide for a kind of quick bowel syndrome, the place the physique is unable to correctly take up vitamins and may be probably deadly.

Knowledge from a late-stage research is predicted by year-end.

Ironwood hopes the remedy will grow to be a blockbuster remedy, banking on an extended dosing interval and probably higher effectiveness to assist it compete towards different remedies.

“There is definitely challenges with every day injections versus a once-week injection. However I believe what is going on to essentially drive it (apraglutide) is the general efficacy of the drug,” Ironwood CEO Thomas McCourt mentioned in a convention name.

The deal would add to its earnings from 2026, Ironwood added, with a profitable commercialization of the remedy.

The illness has an estimated addressable inhabitants of 18,000 grownup sufferers within the U.S., Europe and Japan, in keeping with the businesses.

Apraglutide belongs to a category of remedies often called GLP-2s, which incorporates Takeda Pharmaceutical’s Gattex that’s already authorised to deal with quick bowel syndrome and must be injected every day.