Boehringer Ingelheim GmbH is licensing Lupin Ltd.'s drug compound LNP3794, which has the potential to treat difficult-to-treat cancers characterized by mutations in a patient's KRAS gene.
The German drugmaker will pay India's Lupin $20 million upfront for the license plus additional payments for successful achievement of defined clinical, regulatory and commercial milestones for a total deal value of more than $700 million. Lupin will also be entitled to receive double-digit royalties on the sales of the product once it is approved.
LNP3794, Lupin's proprietary MEK inhibitor compound, will be studied in combination with Boehringer Ingelheim's KRAS inhibitor pipeline to counter KRAS-based gastrointestinal and lung cancers. Mutations in the KRAS genes can cause cancers or make them grow aggressively.
Preclinical data has shown that a combination of Boehringer Ingelheim's KRAS inhibitors with MEK inhibitors results in increased anti-tumor activity based on their complementary mechanisms of action in keeping KRAS-driven cancers in check.
It is estimated that KRAS mutations occur in 1 out of 7 human metastatic cancers, making it the most frequently mutated cancer-causing gene.
