Week In Review: Korea’s Hanmi Signs $960 Million Deal With Janssen

Deals and Financings

Hanmi Pharma (KRX: 1289400) of South Korea announced another blockbuster out-licensing deal for one of its clinical stage assets. This time, Janssen agreed to a $960 million deal in exchange for exclusive worldwide rights (except Korea and China) to a novel biologic GLP-1/Glucagon dual receptor agonist aimed at diabetes and obesity (see story). The molecule, HM12525A, is expected to begin Phase II trials next year. Last week, Sanofi (NYSE: SNY) agreed to pay as much as $4.2 billion for three Hanmi long-acting diabetes drugs. Previously, the company out-licensed a novel lung cancer therapeutic to Boehringer Ingelheim for $730 million and sold the rights for an autoimmune drug to Lilly (NYSE: LLY) for $690 million. 

LEO Pharma A/S, a Danish dermatological company, paid $727 million to acquire global rights to the dermatology assets of Japan’s Astellas Pharma (see story). LEO said the acquisition, which is the largest transaction in its 100-year history, will add 20% to revenues. Among other benefits, the acquisition will increase LEO’s presence in China and Russia. Before the transaction, LEO was already the largest MNC focused exclusively on dermatology products in China and number four in derm products overall. 

Medtronic PLC (NYSE: MDT), a global medical device maker, has partnered with Sequoia Capital to establish a $60 million joint investment fund, which will invest in healthcare technology startups aimed at China’s market (see story). Suzhou BioBay joined as a limited and strategic partner. The ideal investment candidate will be a new China company with the potential to succeed in global markets. Ex-China companies that are developing products suited for the China market will also be considered.

BioDuro, a China-US CRO, has merged its US operations with Formex, an API formulation, development and cGMP manufacturing company located in San Diego (see story). Both companies are owned by Bridgewest Group of San Diego. In July, Bridgewest bought BioDuro from PPD, a global CRO. Masood Tayebi, PhD, who is a Partner and CEO of Bridgewest, founded BioDuro in 2005, sold it to PPD in 2012, re-acquired the company, and now he has merged Formex, another Bridgewest biopharma investment, into BioDuro.