Schering AG and Novartis Agree on Joint Commercialization of Novel Cancer Drug

Separate License Agreement for Ophthalmic Use Signed

27-Jan-2005

Schering AG, Germany announced that, following regulatory approvals, it will co-promote the novel oral angiogenesis inhibitor PTK787/ZK 222584 (PTK/ZK) for all oncology indications together with Novartis Pharma AG in Europe, North America and Japan. This agreement will enable both Schering and Novartis to maximize the compound's full potential.

Schering will become the lead partner in Europe while Novartis will be the lead partner in North America. The lead partner will bear the larger part of costs and resources, and will thus retain a correspondingly larger percentage of the profits. For Japan, costs and profits will be shared equally by Schering and Novartis. In Latin America, Africa and Australia Schering will exclusively market PTK/ZK. Novartis will exclusively market the product in Asia, excluding Japan. Additional details of the agreement were not disclosed.

Separate license agreement for ophthalmic use signed

Schering further announced that it has transferred its interest in the ophthalmic use of PTK/ZK in a separate agreement to Novartis since ophthalmic diseases do not represent a core business field of Schering.

Schering will receive an upfront fee, milestone payments and royalties. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Under the exclusive agreement Novartis is planning to develop and commercialize the compound for the treatment of wet age-related macular degeneration (AMD).

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