Hanmi inks deal worth $915M with U.S. firm

Hanmi Pharmaceutical, the country’s top drug maker by production volume, entered into a licensing agreement with U.S. pharma giant Janssen Pharmaceuticals for the development of a drug that can be used to treat both diabetes and obesity.

The deal, worth $915 million in total, is setting another milestone for the Korean company following a mega licensing deal with Sanofi less than a week ago.

Under the latest agreement, Hanmi will receive an upfront payment of $105 million and is eligible for payments of up to $810 million based on certain sales and development milestones.

After the product is released, Hanmi will also be entitled to a separate double-digit percentage of sales of the drug known as HM12525A.

In exchange, Janssen will receive a worldwide license excluding for China to develop and commercialize a separate drug, a new GLP-1/glucagon dual agonist. The U.S. company will be also responsible for conducting the second phase of clinical research.

The announcement came four days after Hanmi Pharmaceutical entered into an agreement with Sanofi, a French drug maker, to license the Korean company’s Quantum Project, a diabetes solutions portfolio in development.

The deal was the biggest to date in Korea’s pharmaceutical industry. Hanmi will receive an upfront payment of 400 million euros ($435 million) and further payment of up to 3.5 billion euros according to sales and developmental milestones.

BY PARK EUN-JEE [park.eunjee@joongang.co.kr]