Zeria Will Buy Tillotts to Gain Drug for Colon Ulcers

 Zeria Pharmaceutical Co., a Japanese drugmaker, agreed to buy Switzerland’s Tillotts Pharma AG for 136 million Swiss francs ($128 million), gaining some rights for a medicine to treat ulcers in the rectum and colon.

Zeria will get rights to sell the drug Asacol in 53 countries in Europe and the Middle East, the Tokyo-based company said in a statement today. The agreement with closely held Tillotts, based in Ziefen, near Basel, doesn’t include the U.S., Germany and seven other markets, Zeria said.

Revenue in the global market for inflammatory bowel disease such as ulcerative colitis totals about 240 billion yen ($2.5 billion) a year, Shigeru Moriyama, a Zeria spokesman, said by telephone from Tokyo. Asacol is sold by Procter & Gamble Co. in the U.S., Moriyama said.

Zeria has held rights to develop and sell the medicine in Japan since 2004. The company said it plans to complete the takeover of Tillotts on Sept. 1 and is assessing the impact of the acquisition on earnings.