Alembic enters into licensing pact with Belgian co

Mumbai: Drug maker Alembic has signed a licensing agreement with Belgian drugmaker UCB, a global biopharmaceutical company, engaged in R&D and commercialisation of pharmaceutical and biotechnology products in the fields of central nervous system disorders, for its Novel Drug Delivery Platform for epilepsy drug Keppra XR (Levetiracetam extended release tablets).

As per the agreement, Alembic will provide the technology to reduce the dosage for the twice-a-day Keppra drug to make it a once-a-day tablet. The tablet will then be sold in dosages of 500 mg, 1000 mg and 1500 mg and will be called Keppra XR.

Alembic would receive milestone payments of $11 million and additionally get royalty payments on future worldwide net sales of the Keppra drug, subject to necessary legal and regulatory approvals. Phase III clinical trials on Keppra XR (Levetiracetam Extended Release tablets) are ongoing and results are expected in the fourth quarter of 2007, the company said.

Keppra is UCB''s leading anti-epileptic drug, with sales of 761 million ($1 billion) in 2006.

In 2006 UCB had a turnover of $2.5 billion.