South Korea’s Hanmi Pharmaceutical Co. said Thursday it signed an exclusive development and license agreement with Genentech to give the Roche Group unit the global rights, except in South Korea, to HM95573, a selective pan-rapidly accelerated fibrosarcoma (RAF) kinase inhibitor targeting solid tumors.

The news however was eclipsed by a major setback after Beohringer Ingelheim announced it was ending exclusive license agreement with Hanmi on HM61713, another novel third-generation EGFR targeting agent, the two entered in July last year on prospective deal worth $680 million. Hanmi in a disclosure statement Friday confirmed the exclusive rights on the novel treatment outside Korea, Hong Kong, and China was returned after clinical experiments on lung cancer patients. Hanmi said it won’t be returning back the $65 million initial payment to the German counterpart.

As of 1:20 p.m.,.Hanmi Pharmaceutical stock was down 13 percent from previous session at 539,000 won ($488.93) after slipping to as low as 504,000 won.

The license agreement with Genentech could also build up to $910 million, including $80 million upfront and payments tied to achieving development, regulatory, and commercialization milestones for the South Korean drug developer. But the prospects on the deal also hinges on clinical try-outs.

“We are very excited to work together with Genentech which has built its research expertise on oncology. We hope our partnership with Genentech will empower HM95573 to bring a new treatment opportunity to cancer-fighting patients around the world,” said Hanmi Pharm chief executive Lee Gwan-sun.

“This collaboration demonstrates our commitment to bringing the best science in the world to Genentech with the ultimate goal of developing life-changing therapies for people with cancer,” said Dr. James Sabry, Senior Vice President and Global Head of Genentech Partnering, in a statement. “We are excited to partner with Hanmi and leverage their scientific insights to develop novel therapies that target the MAPK pathway.”

The agreement is subject to customary closing conditions that include clearance under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act and is expected to be finally approved within this year.

Including the Boehringer partnership, Hanmi Pharm achieved milestone deals worth more than 8 trillion won last year.

By Lee Dong-in

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