(Yicai) May 29 -- Chinese biopharmaceutical company Bio-Thera Solutions has granted exclusive marketing rights to its new antibody drug under development across Europe to German drugmaker Stada Arzneimittel.

Stada will pay Bio-Thera a total of over USD157.5 million to obtain the exclusive rights to sell BAT2506 (golimumab) injection in the European Union, the United Kingdom, Switzerland, and other European countries, the Guangzhou-based company announced yesterday. The licensing will be valid for 15 years, with an automatic extension of two more years.

Bio-Thera will receive from Stada a downpayment of USD10 million, milestone payments of up to USD147.5 million based on the research and development progress, and commissions equal to a double-digit percentage of BAT2506 injection’s net sales after the product hits the market, Bio-Thera noted.

BAT2506 injection is a golimumab biosimilar drug, a new type of immunotherapy that can be used to treat inflammatory diseases, the firm added. It has already completed Phase III clinical trials globally.

In March, Bio-Thera announced that it had granted Costa Rican healthcare product distributor SteinCares exclusive marketing rights to BAT2506 and another experimental antibody drug in more than 30 countries in Latin America and the Caribbean in a deal that could be worth up to USD6 million.

Bio-Thera’s shares [SHA: 688177] were trading down 0.7 percent at CNY26.53 (USD3.66) as of 2.40 p.m. in Shanghai today, after opening up 5.2 percent.

Editor: Futura Costaglione