(Courtesy of Yuhan Corp.)
Korea’s Yuhan Corp. said Thursday it will receive a $30 million milestone payment from Janssen Biotech after its lung cancer drug Lazcluze began commercial sales in Europe.
The drug, known generically as lazertinib and sold in Korea as Leclaza, is being marketed with Janssen’s Rybrevant (amivantamab) for EGFR-mutated non-small cell lung cancer.
It brings Yuhan’s cumulative milestone payments from the drug to $300 million, including the upfront payment it received when it licensed lazertinib to Janssen, now part of Johnson & Johnson, in 2018.
The original deal is worth up to $950 million, including the upfront payment. Yuhan said it has now received about one-third of that amount.
The latest payment is another sign that lazertinib is moving beyond regulatory approvals and into commercial use in major markets.
Yuhan received $60 million after the treatment began selling in the United States in 2024, followed by $15 million from Japan and $45 million from China last year.
Yuhan has also been receiving sales-based royalties since 2024, when prescriptions of the combination therapy began. The company said those royalties are expected to grow as the drug becomes available in more countries.
Lazertinib became the first Korean-developed anticancer drug to win U.S. FDA approval in August 2024. It has since been approved or cleared in several major markets, including the European Union, Canada, Japan, Australia and China.
The combination also gained a stronger position in treatment guidelines after the U.S. National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) listed it in November as a preferred Category 1 first-line option for EGFR-mutated non-small cell lung cancer.
Clinical data from the phase 3 MARIPOSA trial, presented last year, showed the combination improved overall survival compared with the previous standard treatment, with the company saying it expected a survival benefit of more than one year.
Kim Ji-hye
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