Following a 5 trillion won licensing agreement with France-based Sanofi last Thursday, South Korean pharmaceutical company Hanmi Pharmaceutical has bagged another mega licensing deal with U.S. drug maker Janssen.
Hanmi Pharmaceutical said on November 9 that it has reached a 1 trillion won (USD 915 million) out-licensing deal on its 'HM12525A' (a new long-acting diabetes-obesity drug) with global drugmaker Janssen.fy
Hanmi will receive an upfront payment of USD 150 million and an additional USD 810 million for clinical development, regulatory approval and sales milestones from Janssen, the pharmaceuticals arm of Johnson & Johnson.
HM12525A, a new bio medicine that is being developed with Hanmi’s exclusive biologics technology, is designed to fight both diabetes and obesity at the same time. Hanmi came up with the idea of developing such a dual-purpose drug because most of the people living with diabetes are overweight or have obesity.
Since HM12525A is based on Hanmi’s GLP-1 diabetes treatment (which affects the secretion of insulin and appetite) and glucagon (which increases energy metabolism), it can treat both diabetes and obesity.
Above all, taking advantage of Hanmi's LAPSCOVERY Technology (a platform technology that prolongs the duration of action of biologics), the company has made sure that HM12525A is administered once a week, not daily. Hence7 it can spare patients the hassle of taking multiple daily insulin injections.
Under the contract, Janssen will obtain exclusive rights to develop and commercialize HM12525A around the globe, except for Korea and China,
