When biotech licensers grant marketing rights to their development partners, they often retain at least some commercialization rights—and even if they cede worldwide marketing rights, many will keep at least an option to co-promote the product in a key geographic or therapeutic market. The option to co-promote is even a negotiating leverage point for those biotechs that have little intention of building their own commercial capability: they may plan to monetize the right by sublicensing it to a third party, or trading it back to the original partner for another concession later on.
But how often have these licensing terms actually translated into an active co-promotion deal? To get a sense, we surveyed 59 development deals (those signed prior to NDA filing) between...