GSK had regional rights to Amgen’s bone drugs Prolia and Xgeva, as well as cancer drug Vectibix, since 2009 and 2010 respectively.
Last year, GSK generated about $111m in combined sales by licensing the drugs from Amgen.
Under the latest agreement, Amgen will make milestone payments to GSK. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
The deal includes key markets such as Brazil, China, Colombia, Hong Kong, Israel, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan and Thailand.
GSK will continue to hold the license and sell as well as distribute the products for an interim transition period that will change by country.
Amgen expects to complete the transition in the majority of the markets within a 12-month period. The transaction is anticipated to be accretive to the company’s adjusted earnings in 2017.
The deal will enable Amgen to build additional commercial infrastructure in oncology and bone health, the company’s two important therapeutic areas with late-stage pipeline assets.
Prolia targets RANK Ligand, a regulator of bone-removing cells (osteoclasts). It is administered as a single subcutaneous injection of 60 mg once every six months.
Xgeva is designed to prevent skeletal-related events in patients with bone metastases from solid tumors. It is administered as a single subcutaneous injection of 120 mg once every 4 weeks with additional 120 mg doses administered on days 8 and 15 of the first month of therapy.
Vectibix is a human anti-EGFR antibody used for the treatment of metastatic colorectal cancer.
Image: One of the many buildings at Amgen headquarters in Thousand Oaks, California. Photo: courtesy of Coolcaesar.