À̹ÌÁö È®´ë Germany-based Boehringer Ingelheim (BI) offered to pay maximum $1.2 billion for the rights in an investigational idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) drug under development by four-year-old Korean biotech startup Bridge Biotherapeutics
The company said it received ¢æ45 million ($51 million) upfront and is entitled to receive up to ¢æ1.1 billion as future milestone payments contingent upon achievement of certain commercial objectives.
The deal value is higher than BI¡¯s $870 million deal with Yuhan Corp. early this month to jointly develop the latter¡¯s compound to treat nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH). The latest license deal represents the industry¡¯s first success achieved by a startup this year.
Bridge Biotherapeutics¡¯ IPF drug known as BBT-877 is an inhibitor of autotaxin, an enzyme which plays a role in cell fibrosis. IPF is a rare, debilitating and fatal lung disease that affects around 3 million people in the world. It is progressive with scarring in the lungs that makes breathing difficult and leads to death.
Bridge Biotherapeutics picked up BBT-877 from Kosdaq-listed LegoChem Biosciences in May 2017 and has conducted a phase 1 study with a contract research organization in the U.S. The compound was granted orphan designation by the FDA early this year.
Bridge Biotherapeutics said it will complete the phase 1 trial in the third quarter and enter a phase 2 trial within this year, which will be led by BI.
By Kim Byung-ho and Minu Kim
[¨Ï Pulse by Maeil Business Newspaper & mk.co.kr, All rights reserved]