India's Jubilant inks $220M R&D deal with AZ

India's Jubilant Biosys has struck a new research and development deal with AstraZeneca that could be worth up to $220 million. The drug developer, which is already partnered in a separate development deal with Eli Lilly, gets $20 million upfront with $3 million committed for the next two years.

"It is a great contract...earlier we were with (Eli) Lilly totally. This will helps us to de-risk our business," Executive Director-Finance R. Sankaraiah told Reuters over telephone. "It is a validation of our drug discovery concept itself."

In the deal AstraZeneca will fund the research work for five years and will own any of the neuroscience drugs that emerge from the partnership. Jubilant stands to earn up to $200 million in milestones on the new therapies.

- check out Jubilant's release
- read the report from Reuters