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news.Sucampo Pharmaceuticals, a biopharmaceutical company, has announced that its subsidiary, Sucampo Pharma, has entered into a licensing and commercialization agreement with Abbott Japan Co for Sucampo's lubiprostone in Japan.
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Under the terms of the agreement, Abbott will receive exclusive rights to commercialize lubiprostone in Japan for the treatment of chronic idiopathic constipation (CIC) and will receive the right of first refusal to any additional indications for which lubiprostone is developed in Japan. Abbott will be responsible for all commercialization expenses and efforts.
Sucampo will receive an upfront payment of $10 million and could receive additional milestone payments based on achieving specified development and commercialization goals. Sucampo will continue to lead the development of and regulatory activity for lubiprostone in Japan and will continue to be responsible for the costs of lubiprostone development.
Following marketing authorization and pricing approval, Abbott will purchase finished product from Sucampo for distribution in Japan. Sucampo also will retain the right to co-promote lubiprostone in Japan.
In addition, Sucampo and Abbott have agreed to begin negotiating a licensing, commercialization and supply agreement with respect to other available territories.
In September 2008, Sucampo reported results from a Phase IIb dose-ranging study of lubiprostone for CIC in Japanese patients. Based on these results, Sucampo plans to initiate Phase III clinical testing of lubiprostone for CIC in Japan in the second quarter of 2009.