CJ Healthcare said Wednesday that it has signed a licensing agreement for K-CAB, a gastroesophageal reflux disease (GORD) treatment, with Laboratorios Carnot, a Mexican pharmaceutical company.

K-CAB is Korea’s 30th novel drug that won the license in July 2018. It became the first potassium-competitive acid blocker (P-CAB) to obtain the indication for erosive and non-erosive GORD in Korea.

While conventional treatments such as proton pump inhibitors (PPI) need three to five days to show efficacy, P-CAB drugs suppress gastric acid secretion within one hour after taking the medication. P-CAB treatments also suppress excessive secretion of gastric acid during night time, which could reduce chest pain and a sleep disorder, according to CJ HealthCare.

Under the accord, CJ Healthcare will supply Carnot with $84 million worth of K-CAB, including a down payment, royalty for each country, royalty for net sales, and product distribution costs, for the next 10 years. Carnot plans to launch K-CAB in 17 Latin American countries from 2022, starting with Mexico.

“Through this contract, K-CAB has proved the superiority of Korea’s new drugs in Latin American,” CJ Healthcare CEO Kang Seok-hee said. “We will continue to discover overseas markets and develop K-CAB as a blockbuster product in the global gastroesophageal disease treatment market.”

Laboratorios Carnot CEO Guy Jean Leon Savoir García said, “K-CAB is a new drug that has proven efficacy and safety through numerous clinical trials. The signing of a license agreement with CJ Healthcare is a key step toward strengthening our position in the market for digestive drugs.”

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