HONG KONG – Taiho Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd. has signed an exclusive license agreement with Lung Therapeutics Inc., picking up the Japanese rights to Lung Tx’s LTI-01, a recombinant human single-chain urokinase plasminogen activator for loculated pleural effusion (LPE).

In a deal with just $50 million up front but the potential to reach $2.5 billion, Tokyo’s Taiho Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd. and Astex Pharmaceuticals Inc., of Cambridge, U.K., are joining Merck & Co. Inc. in an exclusive worldwide research collaboration and license agreement to develop small-molecule inhibitors against several cancer targets, including the KRAS oncogene.