Print(PDF/87KB) Apr. 07, 2017 Licensing

Sumitomo Dainippon Pharma Announces Partnership with Bukwang on its Atypical Antipsychotic Agent Lurasidone for Korea

Sumitomo Dainippon Pharma Co., Ltd. (Head Office: Osaka, Japan; President: Masayo Tada) announced today that the Company has concluded a license agreement with Bukwang Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. (Head office: Seoul, Korea; "Bukwang") relating to the development, sales and so on in Korea of lurasidone hydrochloride ("lurasidone"), an atypical antipsychotic agent, originally created by Sumitomo Dainippon Pharma.

Under the terms of the agreement, Bukwang will have the exclusive license of lurasidone to develop, sell and so on in Korea and Sumitomo Dainippon Pharma will receive upfront, launch milestone and sales milestone payments from Bukwang and supply lurasidone bulk tablets to Bukwang. Bukwang will conduct the bridging phase 3 study of lurasidone for schizophrenia in Korea.

Sumitomo Dainippon Pharma plans to continue expanding the global presence of lurasidone as a treatment option for patients with schizophrenia and bipolar disorder.

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About Bukwang Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd.:
Bukwang is Korean pharmaceutical company, founded in 1960, its employment is approximately 600 and its total sales in FY2015 amounted to approximately 14 billion yen.
Bukwang has made available LONASEN® (blonanserin), an atypical antipsychotic agent, licensed from Sumitomo Dainippon Pharma since October 2010.

About Lurasidone:
Lurasidone is an atypical antipsychotic created originally by Sumitomo Dainippon Pharma, characterized by a unique chemical structure and an affinity for dopamine D2, serotonin 5-HT2A and serotonin 5-HT7 receptors where it has antagonist effects. In addition, lurasidone is a partial agonist at the serotonin 5-HT1A receptor and has no appreciable affinity for histamine H1 or muscarinic M1 receptors.
Lurasidone has been available for the treatment of schizophrenia in the United States since 2011, in Canada since 2012, in Switzerland since 2013, in Denmark, Norway and the U.K. since 2014, in the Netherlands, Finland and Australia since 2015, and in Sweden since 2016. Sumitomo Dainippon Pharma is conducting Phase 3 studies with a view to obtaining approvals of lurasidone for the treatment of schizophrenia, bipolar I depression and bipolar maintenance in Japan and submitted the New Drug Application for the treatment of schizophrenia in China. Similar efforts are ongoing in collaboration with Daiichi Sankyo Company, Limited for four Latin American countries, with Standard Chem. & Pharm. Co., Ltd. for Taiwan, with DKSH (Thailand) Limited for Thailand, Singapore and Hong Kong, with Servier Laboratories Australia Pty Ltd. for Australia and with NewBridge Pharmaceuticals Limited for the six countries of the Gulf including Saudi Arabia and Kuwait.

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