LONDON (Alliance News) - Biotechnology company Horizon Discovery Group PLC on Wednesday said it has signed a programme in-licensing and option deal with French research-based pharmaceutical company Servier.
The agreement could be worth up to GBP50 million to Horizon in pre-clinical and clinical milestones, payments linked to net sales and tiered royalties on future product sales, it said.
Under the deal, Horizon has in-licensed kinase inhibitors from Servier which are showing promise in pre-clinical data for the treatment of a range of cancers but which do not have a biomarker in order to define a sensitive patient group. Horizon will use its platform to identify a patient group most likely to respond to the Servier compounds.
"The in-license of assets with a strong pre-clinical pedigree but do not yet have a clear clinical development strategy, represents a great opportunity for companies like Horizon," said Darrin Disley, Horizon's chief executive.
"This innovative deal, as part of our strategy to drive accelerated growth, offers significant upside potential for our investors built upon the leverage of our intellectual property, technology platforms and know-how," Disley added.
Shares in Horizon were up 1.7% to 151.50 pence on Wednesday.
By Sam Unsted; samunsted@alliancenews.com; @SamUAtAlliance
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