[THE INVESTOR] Hanmi Pharmaceutical announced on Sept. 30 that Boehringer Ingelheim has decided to return its exclusive license to develop and commercialize its lung cancer treatment HM61713.

The German pharmaceutical company has signed an agreement in 2015 for which the South Korean partner received US$50 million upfront. The agreement also entitled Hanmi Pharma to potential milestone payments of up to US$680 million plus royalties on future sales.

Although the German company will not perform further clinical trials for the candidate drug for targeted cancer therapy, Hanmi Pharma will not have to refund the US$65 million it has received so far.

HM61713 is a novel third-generation tyrosine kinase inhibitor for lung cancer patients who have developed resistance to previous EGFR targeting agents.

By Hwang You-mee (glamazon@heraldcorp.com)