Sun Pharma Shares Surge On Deal With AstraZeneca To Sell Cancer Drugs In China

Sun Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. on Wednesday said Britain’s AstraZeneca Plc will distribute its cancer drugs in China, a deal that propelled Indian drugmaker's share price to a two-month intraday high.

As per the licensing agreement, Sun Pharma will be responsible for development, regulatory filings and manufacturing of the drugs, while AstraZeneca will exclusively promote and distribute the products in China, according to an exchange filing.

The initial tenure of the agreement is 10 years from the first commercial sale of the cancer drugs in China.

Financial details of the Sun Pharma-AstraZeneca deal, and names of the cancer drugs to be sold in China as part of the agreement, were not disclosed.

"AstraZeneca's leadership position will help us to make our products available to patients and doctors in China," Kal Sundaram, director of corporate development at Sun Pharma, said in the exchange filing.

The company sees a great potential to introduce its speciality and generic products in the growing China market and this licensing agreement is another positive step in that direction, he added.

The announcement of the Sun Pharma-AstraZeneca deal comes a day ahead of the Indian drugmaker’s September quarter results.