Under the terms of the agreement, HGS will pay FivePrime an upfront license fee of $50 million and FivePrime will be eligible to receive up to $445 million in future development, regulatory and commercial milestone payments. The agreement calls for tiered, double-digit percentage royalty payments on net sales. HGS has exclusive rights to develop and commercialize FP-1039 for all indications in the United States, Canada and the European Union. FivePrime has an option to co-promote FP-1039 and any next-generation products in the United States, and retains full development and commercialization rights in all other regions of the world outside the United States, Canada and Europe, including Asia, Latin America and non-European Union nations in Europe, including Russia. At FivePrime’s request, HGS will supply FivePrime with FP-1039 for use in the rest of the world.  

 

Under the terms of the agreement, HGS has acquired rights to develop and commercialize FP-1039 in the United States, Canada and the European markets, while FivePrime retains minority co-promotion rights in the United States and full development and commercialization rights in rest of world territories, including Asia.  

 

Dr. Lewis T. Williams, executive chairman and founder of FivePrime, says HGS is a great partner for FP-1039 because of the company’s track record of success in developing breakthrough biologics.  

 

“FivePrime’s valuable discovery platforms have enabled us to develop a very promising therapeutic agent in a signaling pathway that has been historically untapped for drug development,” Lewis says.  

 

H. Thomas Watkins, president and CEO of HGS, says the agreement “underscores Human Genome Sciences’ commitment to developing novel targeted therapies that address significant unmet medical needs for patients.”  

“We are excited to add FP-1039 to our pipeline and look forward to working with FivePrime to develop and commercialize this innovative biologic product,” Watkins adds.