Novartis inks major licensing pact with HGS

Shares of Rockville, MD-based Human Genome Sciences jumped on the news that Novartis had inked a major worldwide licensing deal for the hepatitis C drug Albuferon. In a rich pact, Novartis will make an upfront payment of $45 million along with specified milestones of up to $507.5 million for the development of the therapy. HGS will gain another $47 million when the first patient is dosed in Phase III, which is expected by the end of this year. Switzerland's Novartis, a bullish acquirer of new therapies, will co-promote the drug in the U.S. with HGS while retaining exclusive promotional rights for all other markets. HGS will be responsible for the bulk manufacture of the therapy. More than 170 million people around the globe are infected with the hepatitis C virus.

- here's the report on the deal from AFX