Richter shares hit record high after Lilly licensing deal

BUDAPEST, Nov 12 (Reuters) - Shares in Hungarian drugmaker Gedeon Richter GDRB.BU hit an all-time high on Thursday after the company announced an exclusive licensing deal with Eli Lilly to develop therapies combining Richter's estetrol with Lilly medicines.

Analysts said the agreement could help Richter develop another major revenue-generating product as it gets ready for the expiry of patent protection in 2030 for cariprazine, its flagship antipsychotic sold as Vraylar in the United States by AbbVie.

• Richter's shares GDRB.BU were up 2.4% by 0948 GMT.

• The deal gives Lilly exclusive, worldwide rights to develop, manufacture and commercialize medicines combining Richter's E4 — a native estrogen approved in the European Economic Area as Fylrevy for hormone replacement therapy — with Lilly compounds for women's health and cardiometabolic diseases

• Lilly will also have an option to co-commercialize Fylrevy in the US upon regulatory approval.

• Richter is eligible for regulatory and commercial milestone payments and tiered royalties on net sales.

• Lilly will make an upfront cash payment on closing and will separately acquire 381,354 Richter treasury shares for approximately $15 million, at about $39.33 per share.

• "The oestrogen replacement therapy could become a high-revenue product and partly offset the decline in Vraylar sales expected from 2030," Erste analysts wrote in a note.