Germany-based MorphoSys AG has sold rights to its experimental MOR103 treatment to GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) for as much as $577 million plus royalties.
The deal comes with an upfront payment of some $30 million.
MorphoSys will also receive success-based payments of over $500 million, and a double-digit cut of future sales.
MOR103 is currently in mid-stage clinical trials in rheumatoid arthritis and in early stage trials in multiple sclerosis.
“This transaction is a major milestone for MorphoSys,” Chief Executive Officer Simon Moroney said in the statement.“We hope this alliance will result in a significant return on investment for the MOR103 program and to become a major value driver for MorphoSys.”
This is the first proprietary drug for MorphoSys, which develops biological drugs for partners such as Roche Holding AG and Novartis AG.
Tykerb Fails Expanded Use Trial
In other news Monday, GSK reported that an expanded use of its breast cancer drug Tykerb as a treatment for gastric cancer had failed.
The trial “did not meet the primary endpoint of improved overall survival (OS) compared to chemotherapy alone,” GSK said. “The median OS for patients in the lapatinib plus chemotherapy group was 12.2 months compared to 10.5 months for patients randomised to placebo plus chemotherapy … There were no new safety signals identified in this trial.”
GSK operates its North American headquarters in RTP.
[GSK ARCHIVE: Check out more than a decade of GSK stories as reported in WRALTechWire.]
(Bloomberg news contributed to this report.)
