Biovail Laboratories International has entered into a license agreement with Kyowa Hakko Kirin Co. under which Biovail has acquired the U.S. and Canadian rights to commercialize products containing istradefylline, a new chemical entity targeted for the treatment of Parkinson’s disease.

Biovail has paid an upfront fee of $10 million, and could pay as much as $20 million in potential development milestones and $35 million in sales-based milestones. Biovail will also make tiered, royalty payments of as much as 30% on commercial sales of products containing istradefylline. Biovail has also entered into a supply agreement with Kyowa Hakko Kirin for the supply of istradefylline.

“This transaction again highlights our focus on late-stage specialty central nervous system products,” said Bill Wells, Biovail’s chief executive officer. “Istradefylline represents a novel approach for the treatment of Parkinson’s disease and provides another building block within our development pipeline, which now has four programs targeting unmet medical needs in Parkinson’s disease.”