China’s Fosun Pharma to sell two drugs to Switzerland’s Sellas Clinicals for $534 mn

Fosun Pharma, China's largest biotech company today inked a $534-million deal with Switzerland's Sellas Clinicals Holding for developing and marketing two drugs for treating diabetes and lung cancer.

Under the deal, Fosun Pharma's drug discovery subsidiary, Fochon Pharma will transfer the right, title and interest, except for China, in two novel molecules for diabetes (fotagliptin benzoate) and lung cancer (Pan-HER inhibitors) to Sellas Clinicals, a company founded by Greek scientist Angelos Stergiou.
 
Fochon-Fosun will also receive a 10-per cent royalty on sales and a 3-per cent stake in the Zurich-based company if it is able to get approvals for the drugs in the US and Europe, except China.

Sellas chairman and CEO, Angelos Stergiou said, "Fosun and their subsidiary have two very critically important molecules for diabetes and lung cancer which we believe will be blockbuster drugs. They can penetrate into a market ultimately that is worth more than €50 billion."

''We have the expertise to do the clinical research and clinical trials in humans and to progress so that the drugs will become commercially available over the next 4-5 years," he added.

Zurich-based Sellas is a specialty biopharmaceutical and clinical research, science and medical oriented global group of companies, specialising in new therapy treatments within the healthcare sector.