27 December 2018 - - US-based biopharmaceutical company AbbVie Inc., has licensed Indian pharmaceutical company Lupin's MALT1 (Mucosa-Associated Lymphoid Tissue Lymphoma Translocation Protein 1) inhibitor programme, the company said.

Through this partnership, AbbVie gains exclusive global rights to develop and commercialize Lupin's MALT1 inhibitors. MALT-1 is a protein involved in T-cell and B-cell lymphocyte activation and AbbVie intends to pursue development across a range of hematological cancers, many with limited current treatment options.

Under the terms of the agreement, AbbVie will pay Lupin an upfront payment of USD 30m for an exclusive license to the program.

Upon successful completion of regulatory, development and commercial milestones, Lupin is eligible to receive total milestone payments of up to USD 947m.

Additionally, Lupin will be entitled to receive a double-digit royalty on the sales of the product and will retain commercial rights to the program in India.

Lupin's Novel Drug Discovery and Development team is focused on building a pipeline of highly differentiated and innovative new chemical entities in the therapeutic areas of Oncology, Immunology and Metabolic disorders.

The company's NDDD activities were started in 2010 with the vision to use cutting-edge research in bringing novel molecules that address unmet medical needs in multiple therapeutic areas to market globally.

Lupin is an innovation led transnational pharmaceutical company developing and delivering a wide range of branded and generic formulations, biotechnology products and APIs globally.

The company is a significant player in the Cardiovascular, Diabetology, Asthma, Pediatric, CNS, GI, Anti-Infective and NSAID space and holds leadership position in the Anti-TB segment.

Lupin is the 13th largest generics pharmaceutical company in terms of market capitalization (30th September 2018, Bloomberg) and the 8th largest generics pharmaceutical company in terms of revenues (30th June 2018, Bloomberg LTM) globally.

The company is the 3rd largest pharmaceutical player in the US by prescriptions for the Total Market (IQVIA MAT September 2018); 3rd largest Indian pharmaceutical company by global revenues (30th June 2018, Bloomberg LTM); 6th largest generic pharmaceutical player in Japan (IQVIA MAT September 2018) and 5th largest company in the Indian Pharmaceutical Market (IQVIA MAT September 2018).
For the financial year ended 31st March, 2018, Lupin's Consolidated sales and Net profits before exceptional items were at INR 155,598m (USD 2.41bn) and INR 13,934m (USD 216m) respectively.