The media blitz focused on Medicis CEO Jonah Shacknai in the wake of the bizarre death of his girlfriend hasn't prevented the company from completing new development pacts. While a U.S. subsidiary of India's Lupin settled a legal squabble with Medicis Pharmaceutical over the right to sell a generic version of Solodyn extended release in the U.S., the Indian company inked a separate $58 million pact giving the U.S. biotech rights to its formulation technology for multiple programs.
Lupin gets $20 million upfront and $38 million in promised milestones in the licensing pact, which also gives Lupin a royalty stream and Indian rights to the drugs Medicis develops using the technology. The Medicis deal follows a similar pact Lupin signed with Salix.
"This partnership is a fairly long-term one and the products to be developed are from a variety of segments, although Medicis primarily works in [the] dermatology sector," Lupin's Nilesh Gupta tells Reuters.
Medicis, which markets acne and wrinkle treatments, was founded by Jonah Shacknai in the late 1980s. Shacknai has been at the center of a media scrum for the past two weeks as police investigate the mysterious death of his girlfriend shortly before his son died from injuries he sustained in an apparent accident.
- see the story from Reuters
- check out the report from the Business Standard
- and here's a Los Angeles Times profile on Shacknai