KEY POINTS:
British pharmaceutical giant GlaxoSmithKline is to pay up to £1.2 billion ($3.13 billion) for the rights to develop and sell almorexant, an anti-insomnia treatment in its final testing.
GSK will initially spend £66 million to help the drug's Swiss maker, Actelion, push the sleeping pill through its phase three trials in Europe. Assuming almorexant passes the licensing requirements, Glaxo will be liable to pay additional sums relating to sales and other applications for the treatment.
According to analysts at Dresdner Kleinwort, almorexant is expected to be ready for market by 2011. With 80 million sufferers in the United States alone, experts at JP Morgan Cazenove estimate the US market for insomnia treatments at up to US$1.2 billion.
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