GSK and Millennium in licensing agreement

GSK and Millennium Pharmaceuticals have entered into an agreement in which GSK will exclusively market Integrilin in Europe.

The commercialisation alliance is designed to provide significant sales and marketing support to capitalise on growth opportunities for Integrilin in Europe and will enhance the GSK cardiovascular critical care portfolio and presence in the European acute care market. Under the terms of the agreement, Millennium is entitled to licence fees, milestone payments and royalties from GSK on Integrilin sales in Europe upon the achievement of certain objectives. Specific financial terms were not disclosed.

Integrilin is the US market-leading therapy in a class of blood-clot inhibitors known as glycoprotein (GP) IIb-IIIa inhibitors. Launched in Europe in 1999 and in the U.S. in 1998, it is used to treat patients with unstable angina and non-ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction, two closely related conditions known as acute coronary syndromes (ACS), which result in more than 2.5m hospitalisations annually in the US and Europe combined.

'We are delighted by the commitment and strength that GSK brings to capture the full market potential of Integrilin in this territory,' said Kenneth Bate, chief financial officer and head of commercial operations, Millennium. 'This agreement is representative of our strategy to fully maximise the potential of our products outside of the U.S. by working with leading pharmaceutical companies which have outstanding global commercialisation strength.'