Daiichi Sankyo, AstraZeneca to Co-commercialize MOVANTIK in the US

Daiichi Sankyo Inc. (TSE:4568) announced plans to work with AstraZeneca plc (LSE:AZN,NYSE:AZN) to co-commercialize MOVANTIK™ (naloxegol) in the United States. The move is in line with Daiichi’s strategy to expand its US portfolio.

As quoted in the press release:

MOVANTIK is a first-in-class, once-daily, oral, peripherally-acting mu-opioid receptor antagonist (PAMORA) for the treatment of opioid-induced constipation (OIC) in adults with chronic non-cancer pain.

MOVANTIK was approved by the US Food and Drug Administration in September 2014. It was descheduled by the US Drug Enforcement Administration in January 2015 and is no longer labelled as a controlled substance. The launch of MOVANTIK in the US is planned for early April 2015.

The terms of the agreement are as follows:

Under the terms of the agreement, Daiichi Sankyo, Inc. will pay a $200 million up-front fee and subsequent sales-related payments of up to $625 million. AstraZeneca will be responsible for manufacturing, will book all sales and will make sales-related commission payments to Daiichi Sankyo, Inc. Both companies will be jointly responsible for commercial activities.

Ken Keller, Daiichi Sankyo’s president, US commercial, commented:

We are proud to bring our proven primary care and specialty expertise to this collaboration with AstraZeneca.

MOVANTIK represents an opportunity to help patients manage one of the most common conditions arising from widely used pain medications, as well as an opportunity to continue to build the Daiichi Sankyo US portfolio of medicines in this therapeutic area.

Click here to read the full Daiichi Sankyo Inc. (TSE:4568) press release.