BEIJING, March 20, 2015
/PRNewswire/ -- Eli Lilly and Company (NYSE:LLY) and Innovent
Biologics, Inc. (Innovent) today announced one of the largest
biotech drug development collaborations in China to date between a multi-national and
domestic company. Under terms of the agreement, Lilly and
Innovent will collaborate to support the development and potential
commercialization of at least three cancer treatments over the next
decade. The agreement creates possible new treatment options for
cancer patients, while strengthening the presence of both companies
in the Chinese oncology market.
As a part of the agreement, Innovent will lead the development
and manufacturing for the China market, while Lilly will be
responsible for commercialization of the three potential
medicines. Innovent also has co-promotion rights.
Details include:
- Lilly will contribute its cMet monoclonal antibody gene for
possible treatment of non-small cell lung cancer. Separate from
this collaboration, Lilly will continue the development of its cMet
monoclonal antibody program outside of China.
- Innovent will contribute its monoclonal antibody targeting
protein CD-20 for investigation in hematologic malignancies.
Innovent has received investigational new drug approval in
China to begin Phase I development
of this potential therapy.
- Innovent will contribute a pre-clinical immuno-oncology
molecule for development in China.
The companies have agreed that Lilly will be responsible for
development, manufacturing and commercialization of this molecule
outside of China.
- Lilly will also receive rights to develop and commercialize up
to three pre-clinical bispecific immuno-oncology molecules outside
of China.
Under the terms of the agreement, Innovent will receive a total
upfront payment of $56 million. Lilly
could also issue future payments exceeding $400 million for the pre-clinical immuno-oncology
molecule if the product reaches certain development, regulatory and
sales milestones. Sales royalties and other payments would occur on
certain products if commercialized. Further financial terms
were not disclosed.
"We are pleased to collaborate with Innovent to develop
potential therapies for those fighting cancer in China and around the world," said Alfonso Zulueta, senior vice president, and
president, Lilly Emerging Markets. "This alliance marks an
important milestone in our longstanding commitment to China, and
further reinforces our focus to develop collaborative networks to
advance research and clinical development in emerging markets."
Michael Yu, Ph.D., co-founder,
president and CEO of Innovent, stated, "This groundbreaking
collaboration establishes Innovent as the very first company in
China to form such a broad
alliance with a global pharmaceutical company, and we are honored
to collaborate with a company as esteemed as Lilly. Given our
experience, significant insights into the China market and
international compliance standards, we strongly believe Innovent is
ideally suited to serve as Lilly's Chinese collaborator of
choice."
Lilly has a robust oncology pipeline that includes both small
molecules and monoclonal antibodies, which are being studied to
treat a wide range of cancers including breast, colorectal, liver
and non-small cell lung.
About Eli Lilly and Company
Lilly is a global healthcare leader that unites caring with
discovery to make life better for people around the world. We were
founded more than a century ago by a man committed to creating
high-quality medicines that meet real needs, and today we remain
true to that mission in all our work. Across the globe, Lilly
employees work to discover and bring life-changing medicines to
those who need them, improve the understanding and management of
disease, and give back to communities through philanthropy and
volunteerism. To learn more about Lilly, please visit us at
www.lilly.com and http://newsroom.lilly.com/social-channels.
About Innovent Biologics, Inc.
Innovent Biologics, Inc. is a leading biopharmaceutical company
in China focused on the
development and manufacturing of complex, high-end biologics for
both the Asian and global markets that meet EMA and FDA/cGMP
standards. Innovent's strategy is to advance its internal
pipeline of proprietary biologic drugs and establish
in/out-licensing agreements with global pharmaceutical/biotech
companies. Because of its location and emphasis on quality,
Innovent is able to leverage China's cost-efficient environment
without compromising its world-class quality standards.
For more information, please visit www.innoventbio.com.
This press release contains forward-looking statements about
the development and commercialization collaboration between
Innovent Biologics and Lilly and reflects Lilly's current beliefs.
However, there are substantial risks and uncertainties in the
process of drug research, development, and commercialization. There
is no guarantee that the collaboration will yield successful
results or that either company will achieve the anticipated
benefits. For further discussion of these and other risks and
uncertainties, see Lilly's most recent 10-K and 10-Q filings with
the United States Securities and Exchange Commission. Lilly
undertakes no duty to update forward-looking statements.
C-LLY
Refer to: +1-317-277-6524; lauren_zierke@lilly.com;
Lauren Zierke (Lilly U.S.)
+86-10-59042059; li_yan_connie@lilly.com; Connie Li (Lilly
China)
+1-212-375-2694; amielach@tiberend.com; Andrew Mielach (Tiberend Strategic Advisors,
Inc./Innovent U.S)
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SOURCE Eli Lilly and Company