Evotec in up to $175 million NMDA antagonist license deal with Janssen

Germany’s Evotec (EVT: TecDAX) has entered into a license agreement with Janssen Pharmaceuticals, a subsidiary of US health care giant Johnson & Johnson (NYSE: JNJ) regarding its NR2B subtype selective NMDA-antagonist portfolio for development against diseases in the field of depression.

Evotec will receive an upfront payment of $2 million with an additional $6 million to be paid on confirmation of certain pre-clinical properties of the candidates. Evotec is eligible to receive additional milestone payments from Janssen upon the successful completion of certain clinical, regulatory and launch events for a first product, which may total up to $67 million, as well as additional, reduced milestone payments upon successful completion of certain events for additional indications and/or compounds. The firm will also be entitled to an additional $100 million in commercial milestones depending and upon meeting certain sales thresholds and royalties which could be as high as double-digit on certain future sales of royalty bearing products. Evotec will share portions of the payments with Swiss drug major Roche, which originally discovered the molecules.

Under the terms of this deal, Janssen has been granted an exclusive, worldwide license to a series of small-molecule drug candidates. Janssen has the exclusive right to further develop the compounds and market the resulting products. Janssen Research & Development, an affiliate of Janssen Pharmaceuticals, will conduct the clinical development work under the accord.