19th Aug 2015 11:24
LONDON (Alliance News) - Hutchison China MediTech Ltd said Wednesday that Janssen Pharmaceutical Inc has opted to terminated its research and development alliance agreement relating to the HMPL-507 project with China MediTech's research and development subsidiary.
HMPL-507 is a late-stage preclinical drug candidate in inflammation.
The alliance, which began in 2008, was amended in 2010 to "refocus the target of the research on developing small molecule therapeutics against a specific novel molecular target in the area of inflammation/immunology." Janssen had paid China MediTech around USD13 million in upfront, milestone payments and service fees and costs.
Janssen will continue to work with China MediTech on projects in other contexts, the company said.
China MediTech said its scientific view is that the "specific molecular target represents a potential opportunity for targeted therapies in inflammation/immunology and possibly oncology and the compounds developed are of high quality and merit further development."
It plans to independently commence a clinical study of the compound, subject to final regulatory toxicity testing results.
Janssen is owned by US healthcare group Johnson & Johnson.
Shares in the company were up 0.4% at 1,850.00 pence Wednesday afternoon.
By Hana Stewart-Smith; [email protected]; @HanaSSAllNews
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