Sandoz expands strategic alliance with Nipro in Japan; Shionogi licenses drug to Ildong

Sandoz, a generics subsidiary of US drug major Novartis (NOVN: VX) has entered into a strategic alliance with Japan’s Nipro Corp, which will focus on a broad range of cross-licensing and co-development opportunities for the Japanese generics market.

Sandoz and Nipro, who have been working together on various product licensing deals since 2007, will now expand their cooperation to include a wider affiliation with respect to the development, production and commercialization of generic pharmaceutical products in Japan. The specific areas of cooperation will include both cross-licensing of existing product portfolios, as well as co-development of future pipeline products across a number of therapeutic areas.

Complementary opportunities