Martinsried/Munich, March 10, 2011. The biotech company MediGene AG (Frankfurt, Prime Standard) has signed an exclusive license and supply agreement with Will-Pharma for the commercialization and marketing of Veregen® ointment in Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg. Will-Pharma will market, promote and distribute the drug for the treatment of genital warts. Further financial details of the agreement were not disclosed.
MediGene has already entered into several marketing partnerships for Veregen®, e.g. with Nycomed for the USA, with Abbott for Germany, Austria, and Switzerland, with Expanscience for France, with Juste for Spain and Portugal as well as with a number of other partners across Europe, Latin America and Asia. MediGene is planning to continue this global licensing strategy.
Veregen® is currently available on the US, German and Austrian markets. A second wave of marketing applications under the European mutual recognition procedure is planned, with Germany serving as the reference state in this process. Veregen®: Veregen® (previously Polyphenon E® ointment) for the topical treatment of external genital warts is a concentrate of catechins with a complex defined composition, extracted from green tea leaves. MediGene acquired the basic rights to the active ingredient in Veregen® from the Canadian company Epitome Pharmaceuticals, Inc. in 1999, and was solely responsible for the drug’s successful preclinical and clinical development, as well as the approval process. Patent protection has also been further upgraded by a number of proprietary inventions. Sinecatechins 15% ointment (Veregen®) is now also recommended as a treatment option in the US Department of Health and Human Services Center for Disease Control and Prevention’s the Sexually Transmitted Diseases Treatment Guidelines 2010 for the treatment of genital warts.
Will-Pharma: Will-Pharma markets and promotes its own ethical products, food supplements and medical devices through its well trained sales force. With its head offices in the three countries of Benelux, Will-Pharma has more than 85 years of experience in the development and sale of drugs, medical devices, and food supplements. Moreover, Will-Pharma has a long standing distribution agreement with Daiichi-Sankyo. More information on Will-Pharma: www.willpharma.com.
This press release contains forward-looking statements representing the opinion of MediGene as of the date of this release. The actual results achieved by MediGene may differ significantly from the forward-looking statements made herein. MediGene is not bound to update any of these forward-looking statements. MediGene® and Veregen® are registered trademarks of MediGene AG. Polyphenon E® is a trademark of Mitsui Norin Co., Ltd. These trademarks may be owned or licensed in select locations only.
MediGene AG is a publicly listed (Frankfurt: MDG, prime standard) biotechnology company headquartered in Martinsried/Munich, Germany. MediGene is the first German biotech company to have drugs on the market which are distributed by partner companies. It has several drug candidates in clinical development and possesses innovative platform technologies. MediGene focuses on clinical research and development of novel drugs with focus on oncology.
Contact MediGene AG
Julia Hofmann, Kerstin Langlotz Investor & Public Relations Tel.: +49 - 89 - 85 65 - 33 01 Fax: +49 - 89 - 85 65 - 29 20 Email: investor@medigene.com
