Dr. Reddy’s selling anti-cancer agent to Citius Pharma

Set to receive $40 million upfront, approval milestone payment of upto $40 million later

Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories has entered into a definitive agreement with Citius Pharmaceuticals Inc pursuant to which it sold all rights to E7777 (an engineered IL-2-diphtheria toxin fusion protein) and certain related assets. In March 2016, it had acquired the exclusive global rights, excluding Japan and Asia, to the investigational anti-cancer agent E7777 from Eisai Co. Under the agreement with Citius, Dr. Reddy’s will receive $40 million upfront on closing of the transaction followed by approval milestone payment of upto $40 million related to the CTCL (cutaneous T-cell lymphoma) indication approval and upto $70 million for additional indication approvals. Further, it will receive certain sales-based milestones and tiered earn-out payments, the Hyderabad-based drugmaker said in a release on Saturday.