(Yicai Global) Dec. 26 -- Shanghai Junshi Biosciences has granted a unit of UK Hikma Pharmaceuticals the exclusive rights to commercialize an innovative cancer drug developed by the Chinese biopharmaceutical firm in twenty countries in the Middle East and North Africa.

Hikma Mena will pay Junshi up to USD12 million in license transfer payments and nearly 20 percent of the drug’s net sales in the region, the Shanghai-headquartered company announced late yesterday.

Junshi also granted United Arab Emirates-based Hikma Mena the priority to negotiate future commercialization rights for three other promising new drugs in one or more countries in the region, it added.

Junshi’s Toripalimab is China’s first domestic monoclonal antibody drug for PD-1 anti-cancer therapy approved for marketing. It has gone through more than 30 clinical studies covering over 15 cancer treatment indications in regions including China, the US, Southeast Asia, and Europe, Junshi noted. So far, Toripalimab has been approved for six indications in China.

The signing of the license and commercialization agreement will help accelerate the overseas market development of Toripalimab and other products of the company, Junshi said, adding that it will also benefit the firm’s future operation.

Junshi’s shares [SHA: 688180] closed 0.9 percent up at CNY54.42 (USD7.82) today, after earlier gaining as much as 2.5 percent.

Editor: Futura Costaglione