Yuhan signs $870 mln technology export deal with Boehringer Ingelheim for NASH treatment

By Lim Chang-won Posted : July 1, 2019, 09:04 Updated : July 1, 2019, 14:54

[Courtesy of Yuhan]

SEOUL -- Yuhan, a pharmaceutical and chemical company in South Korea, has signed a deal worth $870 million with Boehringer Ingelheim International Gmbh of Germany to export technologies for the treatment of nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH).

Yuhan said in a regulatory filing on Monday that it would receive $40 million in down payment and 830 million in milestone royalty for transferring technologies related to a convergence protein called "GLP-1/FGF21 dual agonist" for NASH cure.

The two companies would co-develop a new drug that combines two hormones, GLP-1 and FGF21, produced in the gut. Yuhan said that in pre-phase studies, the fusion protein had the effects of fatty hepatitis relief and an antifibrotic effect, preventing liver cell damage and reducing liver inflammation.

The South Korean company said it would get running royalty based on net sales while five percent of total technology exports would be paid to Genexine, a chemical stage biotechnical company. The contract area covers the entire world excluding South Korea.

"The technology of Boehringer Ingelheim can be applied to the development of drugs that will bring meaningful changes to NASH patients," said Yuhan CEO Lee Jung-hee.

"The collaboration brings Boehringer Ingelheim one step closer to the next-generation treatment for NASH patients," Michel Pairet, a member of Boehringer Ingelheim's Board of Managing Directors, said in a statement.

 
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