Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories has entered into a definitive agreement with Citius Pharmaceuticals Inc pursuant to which it sold all rights to E7777 (an engineered IL-2-diphtheria toxin fusion protein) and certain related assets.
In March 2016, it had acquired the exclusive global rights, excluding Japan and Asia, to the investigational anti-cancer agent E7777 from Eisai Co.
Under the agreement with Citius, Dr. Reddy’s will receive $40 million upfront on closing of the transaction followed by approval milestone payment of upto $40 million related to the CTCL (cutaneous T-cell lymphoma) indication approval and upto $70 million for additional indication approvals. Further, it will receive certain sales-based milestones and tiered earn-out payments, the Hyderabad-based drugmaker said in a release on Saturday.
E7777 has significant potential as an important component of systemic therapy for CTCL and other cancers. After acquiring it from Eisai, significant progress was made on the CTCL development front, CEO Erez Israeli said. “We are confident of Citius’ ability to realize the full potential of E7777 in the treatment of CTCL as well as in their ability to develop this promising drug for additional oncology and immuno-oncology indications,” he said.
