(Yicai Global) Dec. 22 -- Chinese drugmaker BeiGene has agreed to grant Swiss pharmaceutical giant Novartis the exclusive development, manufacturing and commercialization rights to an experimental oncology drug in major markets outside China in a deal that could be worth as much as USD2.9 billion.

Novartis will make an upfront payment of USD300 million to develop and license the monoclonal antibody ociperlimab in the US, EU, Japan, Canada, Mexico and several European nations, BeiGene said. It will also pay a further USD700 million should the Basel-based firm decide to extend the partnership.

Ociperlimab, which is still at the research stage, has been shown to inhibit tumor development. Once the drug gets the green light to go to market, Novartis will make a milestone payment of USD2 billion to Beijing-based BeiGene, as well as sales commissions of between 20 and 25 percent.

This is the second landmark deal between the two parties. In January, Novartis paid USD2.2 billion for the exclusive rights to BeiGene’s monoclonal antibody tislelizumab. The downpayment of USD650 million was the largest ever received by a Chinese drugmaker and the overall value of the licensing deal was the biggest for a single drug.

BeiGene is the only company in the world to be listed in Shanghai, Hong Kong and the US. Its US stock [NASDAQ:BGNE] was trading down 0.34 percent at USD272.87 as of 12:30 EST yesterday. Its Shanghai-listed shares [SHA:688235] gained 0.89 percent to finish the day at CNY157.10 (USD25) yesterday and its Hong Kong stock [HKG:6160] surged 6.11 percent to close at HKD166.70 (USD21.40).

Editor: Kim Taylor