Japan's Astellas Pharma has agreed to pay $300 million up front and invest $50 million in South San Francisco-based FibroGen in exchange for the European and other regional rights to experimental oral anemia drugs. Astellas will also pay $465 million in developmental milestones for FG-2216 and FG-4592 and will help pay for the program's development. A Phase IIb trial for renal anemia is planned for early 2007. The pact covers marketing rights for Europe, the Commonwealth of Independent States, the Middle East and South Africa. Astellas inked a deal for the Japanese rights to FG-2216 last year.
If they're successful, the companies will produce an oral replacement for the expensive injectable recombinant human EPO. Their researchers believe that these experimental drugs can have a broad application in anemia, a multibillion-dollar market.
- read the release for more on the deal