Spectrum Pharmaceuticals Inc. of Irvine said Friday that it received $16 million from two Asian companies it’s working with to develop a cancer drug.
The cancer drug maker said it received $15 million from Japan’s Nippon Kayaku Co. and $1 million from South Korea’s Handok Pharmaceuticals Co.
Nippon Kayaku and Handok are working with Spectrum on developing apaziquone, a bladder cancer drug.
Nippon Kayaku works with Spectrum in Asia other than in South Korea, which is Handok’s territory.
Spectrum works with fellow Irvine drug maker Allergan Inc. to develop apaziquone for North America and Europe.
Under terms of the deals with Allergan and the other drug makers, Spectrum could receive more than $450 million in payments based on achieving certain clinical, regulatory and commercialization milestones for apaziquone.
Spectrum has yearly sales of about $30 million.
The company also makes drugs for bone cancer and non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, a form of blood cancer.
