US-based medical device company Unilife has signed a 15-year global supply contract with Hikma Pharmaceuticals for the use of Unifill prefilled syringes with a range of generic injectable drugs.
Unilife will supply customized prefillable delivery systems to Hikma from its Unifill platform that include Unifill syringe and the Unifill Nexus products.
In line with the terms of the contract, Hikma will receive a minimum volume of 175 million units per year from Unilife.
Initially, Hikma has selected 20 of its generic injectable products to be used with Unifill products and the company has been granted exclusive global rights by Unifill for its products for use with these specific generic injectable products.
Subject to agreement by the two companies, additional injectable drugs may also be added to the exclusivity.
Unilife will receive $40m in upfront and milestone payments from Hikma in addition to product sales.
The company will immediately pay an initial upfront payment of $5m to Unilife and will pay the final $20m in milestone-based payments in the following year.
Unilife CEO Alan Shortall noted the company has developed a full range of innovative and highly differentiated syringes under its Unifill platform to accommodate the needs of all prefilled biologics, drugs and vaccines.
"This strategic partnership with Hikma enables us to rapidly penetrate the large and fast-growing market for generic injectables. Hikma is one of the world's fastest growing pharmaceutical companies, and a top three supplier by volume in the $7 billion U.S. market for generic injectables.
"Together with our recently announced long term supply contract with Sanofi, this partnership with Hikma instantly positions Unilife to become one of the largest suppliers of prefilled syringes in the world," Shortall added.
Unilife will begin product sales to Hikma in early fiscal 2014.
