Biocon in pact with Bristol-Myers Squibb for oral insulin

Biocon Ltd, India's top-listed biotechnology company, said it signed an agreement with Bristol-Myers Squibb Co under which the US drug company will have the option to get the worldwide licence to its oral insulin drug programme.

Bristol Myers can choose to assume full responsibility for the development of the drug IN-105, if its mid-stage trial is successful.

Biocon, which has been looking for a partner to take up the drug for nearly two years, said it would receive a licence fee as well as milestone payments and royalties based on commercial sales of the drug outside India. It will retain the rights to IN-105 in India.

"We had a setback in terms of a placebo effect. We are now trying to redesign and conduct a few trails to basically establish the ethicacy of the drug. This is an important step towards major licensing deals, which will only get triggered once we get the outcome of these initial trails," Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw, managing director and chairman of Biocon, told CNBC-TV18.

"If Bristol-Myers Squibb exercises its option to license IN-105 following the successful completion of the Phase II trial, Bristol-Myers Squibb will assume full responsibility for the development programme, including all development and commercialisation activities outside India.

Biocon will receive a licence fee in addition to potential regulatory and commercial milestone payments and royalties on commercial sales of IN-105 outside India. Biocon will retain exclusive rights to IN-105 in India," Biocon said in a statement to the Bombay Stock Exchange.