$25 million milestone for Incyte on Japanese approval of Jakavi

US biopharma company Incyte (Nasdaq: INCY) says it has earned a $25 million milestone payment from Swiss drug major Novartis (NOVN: VX) in connection with the approval of Jakavi (ruxolitinib) in Japan for the treatment of patients with myelofibrosis. Incyte will record this amount as contract revenue in the third quarter.

Under the Incyte-Novartis collaboration and license agreement, Novartis received exclusive development and commercialization rights to ruxolitinib outside of the USA for all hematologic and oncologic indications and sells ruxolitinib under the name Jakavi. Ruxolitinib is marketed by Incyte in the USA as Jakafi.

“We are very pleased with the progress that Novartis is making in the global roll-out of Jakavi,” stated Herve Hoppenot, president and chief executive of Incyte ( who earlier this year moved to this post from Novartis), noting that “the recent approval of Jakavi in Japan is further evidence of that progress.”