Ono Pharmaceutical Co., which sells a cancer treatment based on the discoveries of Nobel laureate in medicine Tasuku Honjo, has decided to offer him a new proposal in an attempt to settle their dispute over the licensing fee for Opdivo, a company source said Saturday.
Ono Pharmaceutical, which started selling Opdivo in 2014, will revise its earlier plan to donate up to ¥30 billion ($276 million) to Kyoto University, where Honjo is a distinguished professor, the source said, adding, "It won't be good for both sides if the conflict is prolonged. We need to have discussions."
Honjo said last month that he would decide as early as July on whether to sue the Japanese pharmaceutical company to demand it raise the licensing fee for the drug, which is usually used to treat skin and lung cancer.