Chong Kun Dang announced on November 6 that it has signed a $1.35 billion technology export agreement with global pharmaceutical company Novartis for its drug candidate "CKD-510".
Under the agreement, Novartis will have exclusive rights to develop and commercialize CKD-510, a small molecule histone deacetylase 6 (HDAC6) inhibitor being developed by Chong Kun Dang, worldwide, excluding Korea.
Chong Kun Dang will receive an upfront payment of $80 million and up to $1.225 billion in future development and licensing milestones, as well as sales royalties based on sales.
CKD-510 is a drug candidate developed by Chong Kun Dang and is an HDAC6 inhibitor with a highly selective non-hydroxamic acid (NHA) platform technology. Preclinical studies have shown efficacy in several HDAC6-related diseases, including cardiovascular diseases. It has demonstrated safety and tolerability in Phase 1 clinical trials in Europe and the United States.
"This is the largest contract to date, and we are grateful to our researchers for the opportunity to export one of our innovative drug candidates to a multinational company, which Chong Kun Dang has developed by consistently investing more than 12% of our annual sales in R&D," said Dr. Kim Young-joo, CEO of Chong Kun Dang.
Chong Kun Dang plans to utilize its proprietary HDAC6 platform to develop drugs for various diseases in the future.
Chong Kun Dang is also accelerating the development of CKD-702, a double-antibody anti-cancer biologic, and CKD-508, a treatment for dyslipidemia, which are currently in Phase I clinical trials. The company's strategy is to focus on the development of first-in-class and unmet needs drugs by expanding the scope of new drug development to gene therapy drugs and ADC anticancer drugs, which are advanced biopharmaceuticals.
