Novartis Developing Cancer Therapy with China’s BeiGene

Novartis has agreed to license the investigational cancer treatment tislelizumab from China’s BeiGene in major markets outside of China for $650 million plus milestone payments and royalties.

Tislelizumab is a monoclonal antibody currently being evaluated for multiple indications, including nonsmall-cell lung cancer, hepatocellular carcinoma, esophageal squamous cell carcinoma, gastric cancer and nasopharyngeal carcinoma.

Under the agreement, Novartis gets development and commercialization rights for the U.S., Canada, Mexico, the European Union, United Kingdom, Russia, Japan and several other countries, while BeiGene retains rights in China and elsewhere.

The first regulatory filing for the product outside China is expected this year. It is already approved in China for Hodgkin’s lymphoma and metastatic urothelial carcinoma.