Specialty pharmaceutical company Indivior has agreed to sell its rights to Sai Bo Song (buprenorphine, naloxone) tablet in China to Zhejiang Pukang Biotechnology for up to $122.5m.
Sai Bo Song is being developed as an opioid dependence treatment. The sale is part of the company’s strategy to focus on its new products, Sublocade and Perseris.
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The deal is subject to Sai Bo Song’s designation as a Class II psychotropic drug by Chinese regulators, as well as other approvals and closing conditions.
Under the terms of a definitive agreement, Indivior will receive a signing payment of $1.5m, $3.5m upon the designation of Sai Bo Song and $12.5m at the time of closing of the transaction.
The company may additionally receive $105m depending on assistance provided to Pukang and on reaching select sales milestones during a ten-year period after the first commercial sale of the medicine in China.
Indivior CEO Shaun Thaxter said: “The divestiture of the Sai Bo Song tablet in China is consistent with Indivior’s efforts to prioritise efforts on the long-term growth opportunities with our new depot assets, Sublocade and Perseris.
“This transaction helps us focus our resources on the highest return opportunities in the regions we know best, while ensuring patients in China have access to an important and transformational treatment.”
Furthermore, the company entered into an agreement with US-based drugmaker Alvogen Pine Brook, which temporarily prohibits the latter from selling, using, offering to sell or importing generic versions of buprenorphine and naloxone sublingual film product, Indivior’s opioid dependence therapy.
Last month, a US district court granted a temporary restraining order against Alvogen, stopping the company from launching the generic versions.
