Schering-Plough signs allergy partnership agreement

Schering-Plough has signed a partnership agreement with ALK-Abello for the development and commercialisation of that company’s orally administered tablet-based immunotherapies for allergies.

Under the terms of the agreement, Schering-Plough has exclusive rights in the US for the development, marketing and distribution of the immunotherapies against allergies for grass pollen, house dust mite and ragweed.

Schering-Plough will pay ALK-Abello an initial licensing fee, in addition to a number of milestone payments following clinical, regulatory and commercial landmark events, with the sum total of the transaction reaching a potential $250 million (126.84 million pounds).

Jens Bager, chief executive officer of ALK-Abello, said: “We are indeed very happy to enter in this agreement with Schering-Plough.

“The company has vast experience with product development, not least in the area of allergy and respiratory diseases.”

He added that he would “look forward” to the collaboration between the two companies that he predicted would be beneficial to both.

According to the agreement, ALK-Abello will supply and manufacture the tablets, while Schering-Plough will subsume all costs of development, registration, marketing and sales, with ALK-Abello receiving royalty payments on net sales of the resulting products.

Last month, Schering-Plough announced that it had entered into a licensing agreement with Braintree Laboratories, to market MiraLax, previously available only by prescription, as an over-the-counter medication.