Rhizen Pharmaceuticals and Curon Biopharmaceutical have entered into an exclusive licensing agreement for the development and commercialisation of Tenalisib, a dual PI3K delta and gamma inhibitor in the Greater China region.

Under the terms of the agreement, Rhizen will receive an undisclosed upfront cash payment and is eligible to receive additional development and commercial milestone payments with an overall deal value of $149.5 million-plus double-digit royalties on annual net sales of Tenalisib.

Curon obtains the exclusive development and commercialisation rights of Tenalisib for Greater China across all oncology indications, and will lead the clinical development in that territory and work towards regulatory approval of this product in Greater China.

Swaroop Vakkalanka, President and CEO of Rhizen Pharmaceuticals stated, “Emerging human clinical data demonstrates that Tenalisib is a differentiated, next-generation, orally active, dual PI3K delta and gamma inhibitor with an excellent safety profile and promising single-agent activity in haeme malignancies. We believe, Tenalisib’s outstanding safety could allow rational combinations with other approved/investigational agents and enable us to unlock the true potential of this class of drugs.”

“Tenalisib has demonstrated great efficacy in lymphoma patients with outstanding safety profile, in-licensing this product to China would bring more effective and additional treatment options to Chinese cancer patients and greatly benefit these patients. We are very happy and look forward to closely collaborating with Rhizen to efficiently develop this molecule into an effective medicine to benefit patients not only in China but also around the world as soon as possible,” said Zhihong Chen, President of Curon.

Kun Tao from Yafo Capital acted as financial advisor on this transaction for Rhizen.