Roche buys Telavant Holdings for $7.1 billion

ZURICH (Reuters) - Roche on Monday said it will buy Telavant, a developer of a new treatment for inflamatory bowel diseases, for an initial $7.1 billion from American biopharma company Roivant Holdings and Pfizer Inc.

Under the deal, Roche will gain the right to develop, manufacture and commercialize RVT-3101, an experimental antibody, in the U.S. and Japan.

RVT-3101 was described by Roche as a "promising" new therapy in development for people suffering from inflammatory bowel disease as well as ulcerative colitis and Crohn's disease.

Inflammatory bowel disease is a group of chronic gastrointestinal disorders with almost 8 million people diagnosed worldwide and 80% of all individuals not experiencing lasting remission, Roche said.

Roche said the antibody, which is close to starting a phase 3 trial, also had the potential to be used to treat multiple other diseases.

"We strongly believe this novel TL1A directed antibody has the transformational potential to make a significant difference for patients living with inflammatory bowel disease and potentially other diseases," said Roche CEO Thomas Schinecker.

"We are excited to add this promising new therapy in development to our portfolio and to make it available to patients as quickly as possible."

(Reporting by John Revill, Editing by Friederike Heine)