Chinese Huadong snaps up Heidelberg Pharma.

ADC manufacturer Heidelberg Pharma AG has negotiated a US$931m licensing and investment deal with China's Huadong Medicine Co, Ltd.

The German inventor of alpha-amanitin antibody conjugates (ATACs) will receive an upfront payment of US$20m and milestone payments of up to US$449m related to its phase 1 multiple myeloma candidate HDP-101 and preclinical prostate cancer ATAC HDP-103, as well as royalties on sales of an undisclosed amount. However, the development partnership also covers two further candidates in early preclinical development as well as options on candidates yet to be generated, which are linked to milestone payments of a further USD 461 million. After a long period of waiting, Heidelberg Pharma has thus achieved a breakthrough in the partnering of Amanitin-coupled antibody technology.

In addition to in-licensing the pipeline, Huadong is taking a 35% or €105 million stake in Heidelberg Pharma, which is funded by dievini Holdung. Huadong will enroll Asian patients in global clinical trials to accelerate product development.