Sellas Life Sciences, a pharmaceutical firm with operations in Switzerland and Greece, has signed a four-year €400m cooperation agreement with China’s Fochon Pharma, a division of Fosun Pharma Group, to develop and sell two novel molecules for treating Type II diabetes and lung cancer.
Under the agreement, Sellas will acquire the worldwide rights, outside China, to sell the resulting medicines, having organised and funded the clinical trials, some in Greece.
Fochon, which discovered the molecules, will keep sales rights in China and will receive a 10% sales royalty.
'It is estimated that if the results of the studies are positive, these treatments may become available within an approximate five-year time horizon worldwide,' said Sellas.
The signing ceremony in Athens was attended by Fochon Pharma CEO Dr Weibo Wang, Sellas CEO Dr Angelos Stergiou, the Chinese ambassador to Greece and the Greek Development and Competitiveness Vice Minister Notis Mitarachis.
Dr Stergiou said the deal would 'promote the exchange of specialised scientific knowledge and innovative research activity' between Greece and China. He claimed the market for diabetes and lung cancer is worth €50bn.
Shanghai-based Fochon Pharma made Chinese Yuan Renminbi CNY7.2bn (USD1.1bn) in 2012. Chairman Chen Qiyu said: 'We see Sellas and Greece as a potential and a momentum for further growth.'
