Sidley Represents CKD Pharma in US$1.3 Billion Out-license of Its Proprietary Therapeutic to Novartis

Largest ever out-licensing deal for the South Korean pharmaceutical company and largest deal for the Korean pharmaceutical industry this year

A cross-disciplinary team of Sidley lawyers represented Chong Kun Dang Corp. (CKD) in a potentially US$1.3 billion out-licensing of its proprietary therapeutic to Novartis AG. The transaction grants Novartis the rights to develop and commercialize CKD-510, an HDAC6 inhibitor. CKD had completed Phase I trials of CKD-510 in Europe for Charcot-Marie-Tooth (CMT) disease, a genetic nerve disorder.

Under the terms of the agreement, Novartis will pay CKD an upfront fee of US$80 million, milestone fees of up to US$1.2 billion over time per the drug’s development, approval, and sales successes, as well as separate royalties for its sale.

BioCentury reported this as one of the largest out-licensing transactions in the last five years in Korea. Of the eight transactions BioCentury sampled since the beginning of 2019, Sidley has represented the Korean licensors in four of the transactions.

The Sidley team was led by Life Sciences Transactions lawyers Joshua Hofheimer (Century City), Jean Qiu (Shanghai), and Sabrina Glavota (Century City) and included support from Sue Wang (IP Litigation, San Francisco); Scott Kaplan and Kelly Cho (Food Drug and Medical Device, Washington, D.C.); Matt Clemente (Restructuring, Chicago); and James W. Lowe, Edward W. Sharon, and Miriam Carroll Silvestri (Antitrust and Competition, Washington, D.C.).