Clinigen Group To Acquire U.S. Rights to Proleukin From Novartis
London-based Clinigen Group pc will have full rights to Proleukin (aldesleukin, human recombinant interleukin-2). This morning, the U.K.-based pharmaceutical and services company struck a deal with Novartis to acquire the U.S. rights to the metastatic renal cell carcinoma treatment.
Clinigen signed an agreement with the Swiss pharma giant to acquire the U.S. rights for up to $210 million in cash. The payment consisted of a $120 million upfront payment, a deferred payment of $60 million and future sales-related milestones that could total $30 million. Clinigen already owns the rights to Proleukin outside the US, which it acquired in July 2018.
With the deal, Clinigen will be the exclusive global owner of the licensed version of this drug, which is being used in multiple drug studies across different disease areas. The company said Proleukin has the potential to become an integral part of cancer combination therapies. When the company acquired the global rights to Proleukin over the summer, Clinigen said it planned to attempt to revitalize sales of the medicine by working with health care professionals to “ensure its benefit to patients is well understood and by making the medicine available to those who need it through the Group’s global distribution network for both licensed and unlicensed supply.”
Shaun Chilton, group chief executive officer at Clinigen, said the U.S. rights to Proleukin will be significant for the whole of the company, not just its Commercial Medicines division. Chilton noted that the acquisition will allow the Clinigen Group to expand its footprint in the U.S. market.
“As part of Commercial Medicines, Proleukin is an excellent fit within our oncology and infectious disease medicines as well as diversifying our wider portfolio - it will be the largest product in the portfolio in terms of current sales. The product has significant potential for revitalization, which will provide further breadth and diversity to the portfolio and material increases in revenues,” Chilton said in a statement.
In its announcement this morning, Clinigen said Proleukin further diversifies its Commercial Medicines portfolio of niche hospital-only and critical care products. That division also has the U.S. rights to other assets, including Foscavir, Ethyol and Totect. Commercial rights for those three drugs have been licensed to Pfizer (Foscavir) and Cumberland Pharmaceuticals (Ethyol and Totect), Clinigen said.
Proleukin generated $60 million in revenue in the United States for the year leading up to June 30, 2018, Clinigen said, citing data from IQVIA. The company said gross profit margin is expected to be similar to other specialty medicines within its Commercial Medicines division.
The deal with Novartis follows Clinigen’s September 2018 deals to acquire CSM and iQone Healthcare, which strengthened the company’s position in the European market.