Boehringer Ingelheim licenses lung cancer drug from Hanmi Pharmaceutical

Boehringer Ingelheim has licensed a new treatment for lung cancer from Hanmi Pharmaceutical.

The exclusive license and collaboration agreement encompasses development and global commercialisation rights for HM61713, a novel third-generation EGFR-targeted therapy for the treatment of EGFR mutation-positive lung cancer.

Hanmi will receive an initial payment of $50 million (32.12 million pounds) and is also entitled to potential milestone payments of $680 million, plus tiered double-digit royalties on future net sales. The deal excludes South Korea, China and Hong Kong.

HM61713 is currently in phase II clinical development for patients with non-small cell lung cancer with T790M mutations who have developed resistance to previous EGFR-targeting agents. Phase III trials will be initiated next year.

Dr Jorg Barth, corporate senior vice-president and oncology therapy area head at Boehringer Ingelheim, said: "This exclusive license agreement with Hanmi Pharmaceutical is a significant step towards our vision of providing a wide-range of lung cancer treatment options as we better understand the underlying drivers of this devastating disease."

This comes after the firm published clinical data showing the benefits of its new lung cancer drug Giotrif earlier this month.