Lupin in $700-m deal with German major Boehringer for its rare

Leading pharma player Lupin Wednesday entered into a licensing, development and commercialisation agreement with Boehringer Ingelheim to sell its MEK inhibitor compound as a potential therapy for patients with difficult-to-treat cancers, globally.

Under this partnership, Lupin will receive an upfront payment of USD 20 million and potential additional payments for successful achievement of defined clinical, regulatory and commercial milestones for a total deal value of over USD 700 million from Boehringer Ingelheim.

Additionally, Lupin will also be entitled to receive royalties in double-digits on the sale revenue from the German partner.

"The partnership aims to develop our lead MEK inhibitor compound (LNP3794) in combination with one of Boehringers innovative KRAS inhibitors for patients with gastrointestinal and lung cancers," Lupin managing director Nilesh Gupta told reporters.

 

Raj Kamboj, Lupins president for novel drug discovery and development (NDDD) chipped in saying, the success of our second NDDD programme in oncology has added to our confidence in bringing highly differentiated innovation for patients globally.

"We have also delivered a novel treatment from conceptualisation to clinical stage development with promising results that can be a potential combination treatment for precision oncology."

Stating that they have moved a long way, as the agreement comes after the new drug reaching the clinical stage, Kamboj said, "we completed our initial phase under the medicines and healthcare products regulatory agency and this partnership is for prioritising the combination. So, the other agent which Boehringer has the proprietary rights is in early stage of development and will be combined clinically shortly before further development."

He further said the USD 700-million payout comes with meeting many milestones at various stages.

When asked if the drug will be marketed in the country, Gupta said, "yes, we retain the rights for the domestic market. Boehringer wants the rights for the rest of the world and so we are holding back rights only for India."

He, however, was quick to add that some details are still to evolve for instance on manufacturing.

"This licensing with Lupin enables us to pair with our own inhibitors and help develop new combination treatment concepts providing more effective and durable responses for patients with rare cancers, but have limited treatment options available," said Norbert Kraut, head of global cancer research at Boehringer.

Stating that this collaboration will significantly strengthen their KRAS programme, Kraut said, we have developed comprehensive approaches to successfully tackle the oncogenic KRASRAFMEKERK pathway from the ground up and this partnership is another key building block in our long-term strategy to bring novel treatments to patients with intractable cancer types".

He further said the agreement has a strategic goal to focus on patients with gastrointestinal or lung cancers defined by KRAS mutations and their sub-populations who do not have any effective therapeutic options now.

KRAS mutations occur in 1 in 7 human metastatic cancers making it the most frequently mutated cancer-causing gene, with mutation rates of over 90 percent in pancreatic cancers, over 40 percent in colorectal cancers and more than 30 percent in lung adenocarcinomas.