Richter's Antipsychotic Drug to Be Sold in the Middle East and North Africa

Hungarian pharma firm Gedeon Richter has signed an exclusive license agreement with Hikma Pharmaceuticals Plc. to sell Richter's anti-psychotic drug ‘cariprazine’ in some Middle Eastern and North African (MENA) markets.

Under the terms of the agreement, Richter will be responsible for product supply and Hikma will proceed with the registration and commercialization of the product in Bahrain, Egypt, Jordan, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Morocco, Oman, Qatar, Sudan, Syria and United Arab Emirates. Sales for atypical anti-psychotics in these markets amounted to USD 153 million in the 12 months ending March 2019. Richter will receive an upfront payment from Hikma . In addition, the Hungarian company will be entitled to sales-related milestone payments upon the achievement of certain targets.

Mazen Darwazah, Hikma’s Executive Vice Chairman and President of MENA said in a statement that, “we are very pleased to form a partnership with Richter, adding a novel product to our portfolio in a key therapeutic area. CNS disorders are becoming more prevalent across the MENA region and this partnership enables us to meet the needs of a growing number of patients.”

Gábor Orbán, Chief Executive Officer of Richter stated that “we consider this recent partnership agreement as a further step to achieve a global presence of cariprazine in the treatment of patients suffering from schizophrenia.”