Continuing its recent spending spree, Allergan has bought Akarna Therapeutics for $50 million in cash. The privately held biopharmaceutical company, which has dual headquarters in San Diego, California, USA, and Cambridge, UK, develops drugs for inflammatory and fibrotic diseases.

The deal, which complements Allergan’s purchase last month of Tobira Therapeutics, gives the company the rights to Akarna’s lead candidate for the potential treatment of non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) and other liver diseases – Farnesoid X receptor (FXR) agonist AKN-083 – as well as other development-stage FXR compounds. The Ireland-headquartered US drugmaker said AKN-083 is highly complementary to compounds being developed by Tobira Therapeutics, namely Cenicriviroc and Evogliptin.

As well as the upfront payment of $50 million, Akarna will be eligible to receive milestone payments related to the development of AKN-083. Brent Saunders, Allergan’s president and CEO, said the acquisition of Akarna adds to its strategic approach to advance the treatment of NASH for millions of patients who currently do not have therapeutic options to treat this critical disease.

Allergan’s chief research & development officer, David Nicholson, added that AKN-083 has been shown in preclinical studies to demonstrate high affinity, potency and selectivity with a better tolerability profile. NASH is the fastest growing cause of liver cancer and liver transplant in the US.