Sidley Austin has advised Sino Biopharmaceutical (Sino Biopharm) on an exclusive licence agreement between its subsidiary, Chia Tai Tianqing Pharmaceutical Group, and AstraZeneca.
The agreement covered the development, manufacturing and commercialisation of Sino Biopharm’s PDE3/4 inhibitor, TQC3721, for which AstraZeneca would receive an exclusive licence outside China, the law firm said. AstraZeneca will also obtain exclusive global rights to certain future development programmes.
Under the deal terms, Sino Biopharm is eligible to receive a USD200 million upfront payment, as well as additional development, regulatory and sales milestone payments totalling up to USD1.9 billion. The agreement also includes tiered royalties reaching double-digit percentages based on the annual net sales of TQC3721 products.
Partners Joshua Hofheimer and Ruchun Ji, who is also a registered foreign lawyer, led the Sidley team with senior managing associate Jean Qiu. Additional support was provided by partners Vadim Brusser, Francesca Blythe and Jason Menzies, as well as senior counsel Chen Yang, counsel Miriam Carroll Silvestri and associate Taylor Ishida.
TQC3721 is an inhaled PDE3/4 inhibitor for the treatment of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.
The agreement is subject to customary closing conditions, including regulatory clearances.
