(Yicai) Nov. 10 -- Chinese drugmaker Eccogene has agreed to license ECC5004, a treatment for obesity, type 2 diabetes, and other cardiovascular conditions, exclusively to AstraZeneca for USD2 billion.

Eccogene will receive a USD185 million down payment, the Shanghai-based company said yesterday. It is also eligible for as much as USD1.8 billion from the British-Swedish drug giant for clinical, registration, and commercialization milestones and net sale royalties.

Under the deal, AstraZeneca will obtain the exclusive rights to develop and commercialize the medicine for all indications globally except in China, where it will jointly develop and commercialize the drug with Eccogene.

ECC5004, a daily oral glucagon-like peptide-1 drug, is undergoing phase I clinical trials in the United States for healthy individuals and patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus. Since the start of this year, GLP-1 drugs have been sought after because of their potential for treating diabetes, weight loss, and other conditions.

Editor: Martin Kadiev