The reports about the Swiss pharmaceutical giant Roche AG planning to invest in the development of a new cancer drug made huge news today around the world. The company announced its plans to pay up to $774 million to Swedish drug maker BioInvent International and to Belgian biotech firm ThromboGenics NV in order to start the work on a new experimental cancer drug called TB - 403.

The two companies will receive an initial down payment of $77.4 million which was considered sufficient for the processes’ start. The contract presents several milestone payments which will add up to a total of $696.7 million and each financial input will be connected to a certain demanded development progress. Also, the product’s sales will be taken into consideration at the time of each investment.  

The revenues from the deal will be split 60 percent to 40 percent, the drug’s discoverer ThromboGenics, being entitled to a bigger piece of the profits.

The TB – 403, which is an antibody, functions by cutting the blood flow to the cancer cells. The process helps minimize the growth and the spread of tumors. The decision to invest in the drug came after a successful early-stage trial that proved its potential and a series of other trials are set to take place in the near future.

Roche owns the right to take the drug to all existing markets, while BioInvent and ThromoGenics retain co-marketing rights in Luxembourg, the Baltic and Nordic Regions, Belgium and the Netherlands.   

The three companies are very confident in the their working relationship and they are all very committed to finding the best and also fastest way to bring their assistance in the global cancer fight.