Sept 1 (Reuters) – Switzerland’s Roche will pay $75 million upfront to Simcere Pharmaceutical Group for rights to an experimental blood cancer drug, the Chinese drugmaker said Tuesday.
• SIM0660 targets B-cell malignancies, Simcere said in a filing to the Hong Kong stock exchange.
• B cells are a type of white blood cell that produces antibodies.
• Simcere is also eligible to receive up to about $1.46 billion in payments for unspecified milestones.
• Roche will receive exclusive global rights to develop, manufacture and commercialise SIM0660.
• A Simcere spokesperson told Reuters SIM0660 is a preclinical product.
• Roche did not immediately respond to a request for comment on what specific diseases it intended to study SIM0660 for, or potential clinical trial timelines.
(Reporting by Andrew Silver in Shanghai, additional reporting from Jasmeen Ara Shaikh in Bengaluru; Editing by Anil D’Silva and Louise Heavens)
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