BOULDER - Clovis Oncology Inc. will pay a Norway company up to $380 million to develop and manufacture one of its drugs.

Boulder-based Clovis, which received $146.3 million in venture capital funding in the second quarter, will assume development, manufacturing and commercialization for Oslo, Norway-based Clavis Pharma ASA's pancreatic cancer drug.

Clavis retains the right to co-develop and co-promote the drug. But for now, Clovis will pay Clavis $15 million cash as well as up to $365 million in royalty fees upon reaching specific development, regulatory and sales milestones.

"We are very enthusiastic about the potential for CP-4126," Patrick Mahaffy, Clovis' president and chief executive officer, said in a statement. "Gemcitabine is the standard of care in pancreatic cancer, but accumulating data suggest that a significant percentage of patients may derive little benefit from its use because of low expression of the hENT1 transporter that allows gemcitabine to enter tumor cells."

The drug, CP-4126, is being compared to the standard of care, gemcitabine, in a phase 2 trial. As part of the agreement, the companies will amend the study to enroll about 250 patients in an international, randomized, comparative trial of the drug versus gemcitabine.

An oral version of the drug is being studied in a phase 1 trial.

CP-4126 was granted orphan drug status for pancreatic cancer treatment in the European Union and is being considered for the same treatment in the U.S.