3M to Receive $100 Million for Herpes Drug

3M Co. will receive a $100 million up-front fee and potentially large payments later from pharmaceutical company Eli Lilly and Co. in a licensing deal for a new drug for herpes. Under the deal announced Tuesday, Indianapolis-based Lilly gets worldwide commercial rights to the drug resiquimod for treatment of genital herpes and other herpes infections. Resiquimod is one of a family of "immune response modifier" drugs, which stimulate the body's own immune system, being developed by 3M Pharmaceuticals. The course of treatment with resiquimod, a gel, is less rigorous and appears to have better results than the current anti-viral medications that must be taken regularly several times a day, according to Bert Slade, medical affairs director for 3M's pharmaceutical division.

The market for genital herpes treatments is worth an estimated $1.5 billion and is growing 10 percent annually. 3M plans to continue testing resiquimod and will seek FDA approval for the drug in 2004. While the potential market for such drugs is great, 3M has grappled with the high costs of developing and bringing those products to the mass market. The deal with Lilly might pave the way for similar agreements that shift some of the costs to others. More than 86 million people worldwide are infected with the genital herpes virus, and 22 million of them suffer frequent outbreaks of painful blisters and sores, Slade said. In the United States, about 5 percent of the sexually active population is affected.

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