Ropes & Gray Advises HUTCHMED in Worldwide License Agreement with Takeda Pharmaceutical Up to $1.13 Billion

Ropes & Gray represented HUTCHMED (China) Limited and its subsidiary, HUTCHMED Limited, in an exclusive worldwide license agreement with Japan’s largest drugmaker Takeda Pharmaceutical Co. for the development, commercialization and manufacturing of HUTCHMED’s colorectal cancer treatment fruquintinib outside of mainland China, Hong Kong and Macau. The transaction was announced on January 23. This is the largest deal to date in China history for small molecules discovered and developed by China biotechnology companies.

Fruquintinib is an oral drug that has the potential to be used across subtypes of refractory metastatic colorectal cancer, regardless of biomarker status. CRC is the third most prevalent cancer worldwide.

Under the agreement, Takeda gains an exclusive worldwide license to develop and commercialize fruquintinib from HUTCHMED Limited in all territories outside of mainland China and Hong Kong and Macau. In exchange, Takeda will pay HUTCHMED $400 million upfront, up to $730 million in additional potential payments relating to regulatory, development and commercial sales milestones, as well as royalties on net sales.

The Ropes & Gray team was led by life sciences licensing partners Marc Rubenstein and Amanda Austin and associate Parker Elliot, and included life sciences partner Katherine Wang, health care partner David Peloquin, antitrust partner Mike McFalls and litigation & enforcement counsel Deidre Johnson.