BackSun Pharma to acquire Novartis’s cancer drug Odomzo for $175 mn
Under the agreement, Sun Pharma will get global marketing rights for the product and Novartis will receive certain additional milestone payments
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Mumbai: India’s largest drug maker Sun Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd has inked a pact with Switzerland-based Novartis AG to acquire the latter’s branded cancer drug Odomzo for an upfront payment of $175 million.
Under the agreement, Sun Pharma will get global marketing rights for the product and Novartis will receive certain additional milestone payments.
Odomzo is a hedgehog pathway inhibitor indicated for the treatment of advanced basal cell carcinoma (BCC) that recurs following a surgery or a radiation therapy, or for patients who are not candidates for surgery or radiation therapy.
Non-melanoma skin cancer is the most common form of skin cancer globally. BCC accounts for approximately 80% of non-melanoma skin cancers, accounting for over 2 million cases in the US alone. BCC consists of abnormal, uncontrolled growths or lesions that arise in the skin’s basal cells, which line the outermost layer of the skin.
The agreement for Odomzo has been signed between subsidiaries of both the companies and the deal will be completed after getting clearance from the US antitrust agency and some other closing conditions, Sun Pharma said in a stock exchange filing on Thursday.
Odomzo has marketing approval in over 30 countries globally including the US, Europe and Australia. Odomzo was approved by the US Food and Drug Administration in July 2015. Approximately, 70% of the prescribers are dermatologists and the rest are oncologists for this class of drug.
According to IMS Health, the hedgehog inhibitor class grew by 40% on-year in the 12 months ended October 2016.
“Odomzo gives us an opportunity to meaningfully expand our already established branded dermatology business and support our expansion into branded oncology. We see meaningful global potential for Odomzo by leveraging Sun Pharma’s existing dermatology and oncology infrastructure to provide an innovative product to BCC patients worldwide," said Kirti Ganorkar, global head, business development at Sun Pharma.
Worldwide incidence of BCC is rising by 10% each year due to factors such as aging population and increased ultraviolet exposure.
Sun Pharma is making significant investments, organically as well as through acquisitions, to build a pipeline of branded products, specialty drugs and complex generics to boost growth.
Shares of Sun Pharma were up 0.35% at Rs616.55 on BSE, while the benchmark Sensex index was down 0.78% at 26,036.89 points.
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