TOKYO -- A Japanese Nobel laureate is demanding more money for his role in developing the breakthrough cancer treatment Opdivo, saying Wednesday that co-developer Ono Pharmaceutical should pay him a higher percentage of profits than in their 2006 contract.
Tasuku Honjo, a Japanese immunologist, identified a protein found in immune cells called programmed death receptor 1, or PD-1, in 1992. Soon after that discovery, he began negotiations with Ono Pharmaceutical to turn the finding into a cancer therapy, which would become Opdivo.
