DRL sells its anti-cancer agent rights to Citius

Hyderabad Dr Reddy's Laboratories Ltd (DRL) has announced that it has entered into an agreement with Citius Pharmaceuticals Inc. (Citius) to sell its rights to anti-cancer agent E7777 (an engineered IL-2-diphtheria toxin fusion protein) and certain related assets.

As per the agreement, DRL will receive $40million initially on closing deal, followed by approval milestone payment of up to $40 million related to the CTCL (cutaneous T-cell lymphoma) indication approval and up to $70 million for additional indication approvals. Besides these amounts, DRL will also receive amount for certain sales-based milestones and tiered earn-out payments.

DRL had acquired the exclusive global rights (excluding Japan and Asia) to the investigational anti-cancer agent E7777 from Eisai Co Ltd in March 2016.

Erez Israeli, Chief Executive Officer, DRL, said: "Addressing unmet patient needs in oncology remains a prime focus area for us. E7777 has significant potential as an important component of systemic therapy for CTCL and other cancers. Post acquiring from Eisai, significant progress was made on the CTCL development front. We are confident of Citius' ability to realise the full potential of E7777 in the treatment of CTCL as well as in their ability to develop this promising drug for additional oncology and immuno-oncology indications."