In an effort to expand its gastroenterology therapeutic presence, Allergan has entered into a collaboration and licence agreement with Assembly Biosciences for the global rights to the latter’s microbiome gastrointestinal development programmes for a total deal value of up to US$2.9 B. The agreement includes rights to preclinical compounds ABI-M201 and ABI-M301, which target ulcerative colitis and Crohn’s disease respectively, as well as additional compounds yet to be identified for the treatment of irritable bowel syndrome with diarrhoea or constipation or mixed.