Glenmark unit licenses cancer drug to US firm for $700 mn

A unit of Glenmark Pharmaceuticals Ltd is licensing its under-development blood cancer drug to Chicago-based AbbVie Inc. for $700 million, marking the biggest outlicensing deal for any Indian drugmaker.

- Jessica Jani

AbbVie will also pay as much as $1.23 billion as various milestones are completed.

Ichnos Glenmark Innovation (IGI), a US-based unit of Glenmark, is conducting phase-1 clinical trials for ISB 2001, a so-called investigational asset to treat multiple myeloma, a type of blood cancer. As part of the deal, AbbVie will get to make and sell it in North America, Europe, Japan, and Greater China, while Glenmark retains rights for India and emerging markets.

"This asset is world-class; you don't come across a world-class asset too often, which can actually change the landscape for patients, and the value of the deal is purely because of the quality of the data," Glenn Saldanha, MD and CEO of Glenmark told reporters in Mumbai.

The market for multiple myeloma is projected to grow to about $33 billion by 2030, according to estimates by Bloomberg Intelligence.