Lilly Inks R&D Deal With Indian Firm Potentially Worth $100 Million
This article was originally published in The Pink Sheet Daily
Executive Summary
Indianapolis drug maker says that potential compounds could address therapeutic areas outside company's focus.
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Lilly's research and development agreement with India-based Nicholas Piramal India Limited gives the Indian firm the potential to earn $100 million in milestones and call-back payments, the firms said Jan. 12. Under the terms of the agreement, Lilly will transfer research and development rights to NPIL for preclinical small molecule drugs focusing on "multiple therapeutic areas." No up-front cash payment is involved. NPIL will gain marketing rights for products developed under the deal in India and other Indian subcontinent markets, except China, and will pay royalties to Lilly upon commercialization. Lilly holds the option to advance any of the drugs into late-stage development once Phase II testing is complete, paying NPIL milestone and call-back payments potentially worth $100 million for the first drug candidate, the Indianapolis-based firm said. In a news release, NPIL and Lilly said the deal "will serve as a prototype for joint development of several preclinical drug candidates from Lilly in multiple therapeutic areas [and] will be a new paradigm" for global development agreements. Lilly characterized the products involved as either not meeting the company's priorities or compounds for which the company does not have the resources to develop in-house. NPIL is responsible for pre-IND and clinical development. Ranbaxy Laboratories' VP-Global Strategy & Development Shyam Bishen recently told "The Pink Sheet" DAILY that Indian pharmaceutical companies are poised to engage in their own drug discovery and development (1 (Also see "Indian Pharma Focusing On R&D, Licensing – Ranbaxy Exec" - Pink Sheet, 22 Nov, 2006.)). The NPIL deal is the latest in a spate of deals for Lilly involving Indian companies in the last six months. In August, the firm entered into a research and development agreement with Suven Life Sciences to collaborate on preclinical testing for potential central nervous system compounds. In November, Lilly signed a multi-year deal with Mumbai-based Tata Consultancy Services for clinical data management. TCS established the Lilly-TCS Medical Information Sciences Center to support the collaboration. - Christopher Hollis ([email protected]) |