Friday, May 23, 2008

Indevus licenses bladder control drug to Allergan in Canada

By Mass High Tech

Indevus Pharmaceuticals Inc. has entered into a license agreement with Allergan Inc., which gives Allergan the right to market an extended release formulation of its overactive bladder drug Sanctura throughout Canada.

The deal calls for a Canadian unit of California-based Allergen, also called Allergen Inc., to pay up to $9 million each to Lexington-based Indevus (Nasdaq: IDEV) and its Italian partner Rottapharm Madaus Group, as required by a prior agreement between Indevus and Rottapharm Madaus.

The $9 million payments will be broken out as $7 million up-front license fees and up to $2 million in sales threshold milestone payments to Indevus and Rottapharm Madaus, according to Indevus officials.

Sanctura XR is a once-daily treatment for overactive bladder and was approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in August 2007 but has yet to be approved in Canada.

Indevus reported a loss of $103.8 million for 2007 on revenue of $66 million.