ImmuPharma shares soar following US licence agreement for Lupuzor

Shares of ImmuPharma PLC (LON: IMM) have soared on Thursday morning after the firm said that it had agreed a new US licensing deal.

ImmuPharma PLC is headquartered in London and has its research operations in France and Switzerland (ImmuPharma AG).

ImmuPharma is dedicated to the development of innovative drugs to treat serious medical conditions, characterised by high unmet medical need, low marketing costs and relatively low development costs.

Shares of ImmuPharma soared 206.38% to 20p. 28/11/19 10:30BST.

The firm has landed a licensing deal worth $100 million for Lupuzor, its drug to treat autoimmune disease lupus.

The group will receive up to $70 million of milestone payments, with $5 million due on regulatory approval of the drug.

ImmuPharma will also get royalties of up to 17% on sales, while there are financial incentives to expand Lupuzor’s use into other autoimmune diseases.

Chief executive Dimitri Dimitriou said Avion had a strong track record of taking late stage drugs through the regulatory process and onto commercialisation.

“Importantly, [its] specialist sales team is well respected within the rheumatologist community, whose focus is on prescribing safe and efficacious treatments for auto-immune diseases such as lupus. This makes it a perfect fit for Lupuzor.”

Avion Pharmaceuticals have said they that will fund the $25 million costs of a reformatted phase three clinical trial next year.

Art Deas, Chief Executive Officer, Avion Pharmaceuticals added: “Avion is extremely pleased to sign this partnership with ImmuPharma. After in-depth due-diligence around Lupuzor™, its mechanism of action and learnings within the initial Phase III results, we believe that Lupuzor™ has a unique position within lupus that sets it apart from competition, and we are delighted to be extending our footprint within this therapeutic area. With approximately 1.5 million patients in the US suffering from lupus, there is a significant unmet need for a safe and effective drug for this debilitating disease that we believe Lupuzor™ can meet. We look forward to forging a strong and successful relationship with ImmuPharma going forward.”

Commenting on the Agreements, Dimitri Dimitriou, ImmuPharma’s Chief Executive Officer and Robert Zimmer, President & Chief Scientific Officer, said:

“We are delighted to be entering into this partnership with Avion, a company which has a strong track record within late stage clinical development and commercialisation of products within the US, the largest market for lupus patients. Importantly, Avion’s specialist sales team is well respected within the rheumatologist community, whose focus is on prescribing safe and efficacious treatments for auto-immune diseases such as lupus. This makes it a perfect fit for Lupuzor™. We look forward to a long and successful relationship with the Avion team and look forward to sharing updates on progress with shareholders over the next period.”

Shareholders will be thoroughly impressed with the announcement made this morning as reflected in the massive surge in share price.

As ImmuPharma have won the backing of Avion, this should allow better products and strategy to exploit long term benefits, which shareholders will be excited to see.

The pharmaceuticals industry has seen a mixed set of results by firm across financial 2019.

Market leaders such as Pfizer (NYSE: PFE) and GSK (LON: GSK) have reported bullish interim updates, which gives them further foot holding the global pharmaceuticals market.

Additionally, Roche (SWX: ROG) announced the acquisition of US drugmaker Promedior last week.

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