Keywords: Novartis, Incyte, myelofibrosis, hematology, cancer therapy

Novartis strikes licensing deal with Incyte

Article | 26 November 2009

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The Swiss drug giant Novartis has secured a licensing deal with America’s Incyte Corp  that gives it the rights to two potential treatments for a range of blood disorders and cancers. The lead compound covered by the deal is Incyte’s JAK inhibitor INCB18424, an oral therapy in phase 3 clinical trials for the treatment of myelofibrosis, a life-threatening bone marrow disease for which there is no effective cure. According to Novartis, the JAK inhibitor could become a “first-in-class therapeutic agent for the treatment of this and other hematologic diseases.”

Novartis will make an upfront payment of $150m for the JAK inhibitor, along with a first milestone payment of $60m following the recent initiation of European phase 3 trials for the drug. Each company will be responsible for costs in their respective territories but will share the expense of collaborative studies. Novartis will have commercialisation rights outside the US, while Incyte retains the rights in America and will be eligible for payments once further development and commercialisation milestones are reached.  It also stands to gain royalties of over 10% on future sales. 

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The other treatment in the licensing deal is a cMET inhibitor known as INCB28060, a cancer therapy still only entering phase 1 development , to which Novartis will have worldwide rights. Incyte has an option to co-promote the drug if it makes it onto the market and will receive royalties from any future sales. “This agreement leverages these two promising investigational drugs with Novartis Oncology’s global development and commercialisation expertise and our wide range of multi-targeted approaches to cancer treatment”, said David Epstein, president and CEO, Novartis oncology and Novartis Molecular Diagnostics.

Novartis is certainly “an ideal partner” for Incyte given its “formidable experience in building a market in the hematology-oncology field”, said Cory Kasimov of JP Morgan, and it’s “impressive” that Incyte has managed to retain 100% of the US rights. The terms of the deal for Incyte “exceed expectations”; management has delivered a “high-quality”  agreement.  And a “lucrative” one, as Tom Russo of Robert W. Baird noted: Incyte could earn up to $1.3bn on this tie-up-- a sum equivalent to its current market capitalisation. Les Funtleyder of Miller Tabak was also impressed with the agreement on the JAK inhibitor: “this is a real endorsement for Incyte’s compound.”