MediGene AG (Frankfurt, Prime Standard, MDG, TecDAX) has announced the sale of full European marketing and distribution rights to Eligard® (leuprolide acetate, for the treatment of hormone-dependent prostate cancer) to Astellas Pharma Europe Ltd. (London, “Astellas”), previously MediGene’s European marketing partner for Eligard®.Astellas will make one-off payments totalling EUR 25 million, while MediGene remains entitled to royalties. There will be no further costs to MediGene. The sales price reflects the full NPV of all future Eligard® revenues while allowing MediGene to benefit from continued Eligard® growth. For more information, please see the full press release.
In several clinical trials, antibody company Micromet has demonstrated outstanding efficacy and safety of its bispecific BiTE antibodies which come with two binding sites: one for a cancer target and a second one for a T cell. As a result, T cells are recruited and guided directly to the tumor cell, initiating cancer cell death in a serial fashion.
In this week’s PNAS, researchers of the company demonstrate that the BiTE antibodies also can overcome the notorious resistance against conventional monoclonal antibodies arising in many cancer patients.
The researchers converted the anti-EGFR antibodies cetuximab (Erbitux) and panitumumab (Vectibix) into BiTE antibodies by adding the binding site for T cells. In animal models, these BiTE antibodies then showed a remarkably high potency (in the sub-picomolar range) against cancer cells with KRAS and BRAF-mutations which made them resistant to the original monoclonal antibodies.
According to the authors, “the present study shows that conversion of EGFR-specific monoclonal antibodies cetuximab and panitumumab into T cell-engaging BiTE antibodies is technically feasible and that the BiTE technology can overcome resistance of KRAS- and BRAF- mutated CRC lines to the therapeutically used parental antibodies. The simplest explanation for the latter is that T cell-engaging BiTE antibodies do not rely on inhibition of EGFR signaling but use the receptor tyrosine kinase as mere surface anchor for attachment of cytotoxic T cells. This function of BiTE antibodies is not expected to be affected by mutations of downstream components of the EGFR pathway that obviate the cancer cell’s dependence on the EGFR surface receptor for delivery of growth-promoting signaling.”
If this holds up in clinical trials, it is not only good news for patients with resistance to conventional cancer antibodies already on the market, but it will also provide an opportunity for a whole range of new cooperations with pharma companies for product enhancement and life cycle management.
Alzheimer-specialist Probiodrug AG last week not only obtained a new US patent covering the inhibition of the enzyme glutaminyl cyclase (QC) for the treatment of CNS diseases. The company also announced the appointment of Dr Claus Braestrup, former President & CEO of Lundbeck A/S to Chairman of the Supervisory Board and Prof Dr Lennart Mucke, Director of the Gladstone Institute of Neurological Disease in San Francisco, Calif. to its Scientific Advisory Board. Moreover, the company was awarded the “IQ Innovationspreis Mitteldeutschland” by the Industrial Initiative for Central Germany for its innovative therapeutic strategy to combat Alzheimer’s disease. In May, Probiodrug hosted the PSP 2010 conference with more than 150 scientists to discuss its approach.
– Update Presented at the 15th Annual Congress of the European Hematology Association (EHA) –
Micromet, Inc. (NASDAQ: MITI) today announced updated clinical data from a Phase 1 and a Phase 2 trial, respectively, of its lead product blinatumomab (MT103). The data were presented at the 15th Annual Congress of the European Hematology Association (EHA) in Barcelona, Spain.
Results of the analysis from a Phase 2 trial in adult patients with minimal residual disease (MRD) positive acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) demonstrate that a prolonged hematologic relapse-free survival was observed in patients treated with blinatumomab. A pivotal trial in adult MRD-positive ALL patients is scheduled to begin in Q3, 2010.
Updated results from a Phase 1 trial of blinatumomab in patients with relapsed non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma (NHL) demonstrated durable responses ranging up to 30 months. Blinatumomab is the first in a new class of agents called BiTE® antibodies, designed to harness the body’s T cells to kill cancer cells.
A conference call will be hosted tomorrow, June 15, 2010, at 08:30am ET / 02:30pm CET / 01:30pm UK time. Dial-in details and the complete announcements are available here.
