Sun PharmaceuticalBSE 0.49 % Industries, India’s largest drug maker, signed a long-term agreement with South Korea’s Samsung BioLogics for the manufacture of an experimental medicine to treat psoriasis.
The novel drug known as Tildrakizumab is currently under review by the US Food & Drug Administration (FDA) and the European Medicines Agency (EMA). The value of the contract is about $55.5 million.
Other financial details of the agreement are confidential, Sun Pharma said in a statement on Tuesday. Tildrakizumab is Sun Pharma’s entry into the innovation drug segment as the company seeks to prove its mettle to regulators. Sun Pharma acquired the rights of the molecule from MSD, known as Merck in the US and Canada, for $80 million in 2014 in an attempt to strengthen its position in the lucrative dermatology market. Last year, Sun Pharma sold the rights to this drug to Spanish company Almirall for the European market.
Almirall will take charge of clinical studies for Europe. The tie-up with Samsung will help ease the regulatory pathway for the drug. “Samsung BioLogics is a globally renowned CMO (contract manufacturing organisation).
