Japan Tobacco Buys Japan Rights to Keryx Drug

Source from:  Reuters - Wednesday, September 26TOKYO, Sept 26 09/27/2007

Japan Tobacco Inc said on Wednesday it had bought the rights to develop and market in Japan a Keryx Biopharmaceuticals Inc drug to treat high phosphorous levels in the blood. The drug, Zerenex, is in phase II clinical trials in the United States. Japan and its pharmaceuticals business unit Torii Pharmaceutical Co Ltd will pay the U.S. firm up to $100 million in up-front licensing fees and milestone payments, including up to $20 million in payments by April 2008. Torii revised down its annual parent net profit outlook by 23 percent to 2.4 billion yen from an earlier forecast on the purchase. Enditem