(Adds share price, executive and analyst comment) By Jason Douglas
Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES
LONDON -(Dow Jones)- Biotechnology company ImmuPharma LLC (IMM.LN) Tuesday said it has signed a license agreement worth up to $500 million with U.S. specialty drug giant Cephalon Inc. (CEPH) for its experimental lupus treatment Lupuzor, sending its shares up 35%.
ImmuPharma will receive a $15 million upfront payment and if a phase II study currently underway is successful it will enter a worldwide license agreement with Cephalon, which will then take over phase III development and marketing of the drug.
Total payments due to ImmuPharma, assuming Lupuzor passes various clinical, regulatory and sales milestones, are $500 million.
At 0934 GMT, shares in ImmuPharma were up 15 pence or 35% at 57.5 pence, outperforming a lower FTSE All Shares index, down 1.2%. Its shares are down 0.9% over the last 12 months.
Cephalon Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Frank Baldino said Lupuzor will be the first specific medication for the debilitating auto-immune disease, which affects 1.5 million Americans.
Teathers analyst Shawn Manning said there's a high level of need for lupus treatments and sales could reach as much as $6 billion within five years.
He added the $15 million upfront payment will provide ImmuPharma with additional short- to mid-term funding.
Panmure Gordon & Co. analyst Savvas Neophytou said the terms were much better than expected and said Cephalon, an S&P 500 company with a 600-plus sales force, is a good fit.
Company Web site: www.immupharma.com
-By Jason Douglas, Dow Jones Newswires; 44-20-7842-9272; jason.douglas@dowjones.com
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(END) Dow Jones Newswires
November 25, 2008 05:07 ET (10:07 GMT)

Publié le 25 novembre 2008 Copyright © 2008 Dowjones