Verastem Oncology and Yakult Honsha Sign Exclusive License Agreement for the Development and Commercialization of Duvelisib in Japan

Verastem (NASDAQ:VSTM) and Yakult Honsha (Tokyo:2267), today announced their entry into an exclusive licensing agreement for Yakult to develop and commercialize Verastem’s duvelisib, a first-in-class oral dual inhibitor of phosphoinositide 3-kinase (PI3K)-delta and PI3K-gamma, for the treatment, prevention or diagnosis of all oncology indications in Japan.

As quoted in the press release:

Under the terms of the agreement, Verastem will receive a one-time upfront payment of $10 million from Yakult. Verastem is eligible to receive up to an additional $90 million if certain future pre-specified development and commercialization milestones are successfully achieved by Yakult, plus double-digit royalties based on future net sales of duvelisib in Japan. In exchange, Yakult will receive exclusive rights to develop and commercialize duvelisib in Japan, at its own cost and expense. Yakult will also fund certain global development costs on a pro-rata basis. Verastem will retain all rights to duvelisib outside of Japan.

“In Japan, current therapies to treat CLL/SLL and FL are extremely limited and duvelisib has robust clinical data supporting its efficacy and safety in both indications, which we can build upon,” said Masanori Ito, Head of Pharmaceutical Business Division/Managing Executive Officer, Member of the Board of Yakult. “We are eager to collaborate with Verastem to develop duvelisib in these initial hematologic malignancies, and then plan to later expand development to include the additional indications of PTCL and DLBCL. We believe this collaboration underscores our commitment to innovation, growing our oncology franchise, and commercializing medicines that positively impact the lives of patients in Japan.”

Click here to read the full press release.