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Glenmark Pharma AbbVie licensing agreement- watershed movement in Indian Pharma

ICICIdirect Research 11 Jul 2025 DISCLAIMER

In a landmark deal, Glenmark Pharma’s US based subsidiary, Ichnos Glenmark Innovation (IGI), has signed an exclusive licensing agreement with AbbVie for global rights ISB 2001 (experimental drug for blood cancer in Phase 1).

The deal includes US$700 million upfront payment to Glenmark Pharma and up to US$1.225 billion in potential milestone payments and tiered royalties.

Having received an Orphan Drug status from the USFDA in FY23, we believe the journey towards from Phase 1 to actual commercialisation would be faster and this can be a significant money spinner.

We expect better chances of out licensing deals for Glenmark’s remaining 4-5 candidates (1 being in phase 1 clinical trials) on the back of this deal.

This deal, we believe can be a trend setter as the global big pharma innovator companies will try to fast pace such licensing agreements with players from India given the inevitable dent in revenues due to impending patent cliff between 2026 and 2030.

Roughly 12 blockbuster drugs, with combined annual sales of nearly $200 billion, are set to lose their patent protection during this period.

We expect twofold windfall for Indian companies due to this impending patent cliff – 1) more out licensing deals similar to what Glenmark has struck besides outsourcing of R&D to CRDMO players, 2) significant opportunities for generic and biosimilar players post patent expiry going by the sheer size of the molecules about to expire.

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