Martinsried/Munich, May 10, 2010. The biotech company MediGene AG (Frankfurt, Prime Standard, TecDAX) has signed two further license and supply agreements for the commercialization and marketing of Veregen®. These have been signed with GC-Rise Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. in China and JS Bio Pharm Co., Ltd. in South Korea.
GC-Rise will conduct the clinical trials of Veregen® (for the treatment of genital warts) that are required for approval of the ointment in China, and will be responsible for all the regulatory and approval procedures thereafter. MediGene will receive a one-time payment upon execution of the agreement and a further milestone payment upon initiation of the first clinical trial in China. In addition, MediGene will profit from supplying GC-Rise with the drug product. GC-Rise expects market launch in China at the end of 2013.
JS Bio Pharm will promote and distribute Veregen® for the treatment of genital warts, and will also be responsible for all regulatory procedures and for obtaining approval of the drug in South Korea. MediGene will receive royalties and a milestone payment contingent on the level of sales achieved. In addition, MediGene will profit from supplying JS Bio Pharm with the drug product. JS Bio Pharm expects to launch the drug on the South Korean market during 2012.
MediGene has already entered into marketing partnerships for Veregen® with Nycomed, Inc. for the USA, with Abbott Arzneimittel GmbH (previously Solvay) for Germany, Austria, and Switzerland, with Juste S.A.Q.F for Spain and Portugal, with Teva Pharmaceuticals Industries Ltd. for Israel, and with Meditrina Pharmaceuticals for Greece and Cyprus.
Veregen® is currently available on the US and German markets. Approval for Austria has been granted, and market launch in Austria is planned for the summer of 2010. A second wave of marketing applications within the European mutual recognition procedure is expected in the second half of 2010, with Germany serving as the reference state in this process. In addition MediGene is planning to conclude further marketing partnerships.
Dr. Frank Mathias, Chief Executive Officer of MediGene AG: “We are delighted to have found partners for the commercialization of Veregen® in these significant Asian markets. This again shows the high level of interest in this innovative product. We see great potential in the Asian market and with GC-Rise and JS Bio Pharm we have well positioned partners with a great expertise in this area.”
Veregen®: Veregen® 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. Moreover the patent protection has been further upgraded by a number of proprietary inventions.
GC-Rise: GC-Rise Pharmaceutical Ltd is an emerging speciality pharmaceutical company, located in Beijing, China, with a focus on women’s health. GC-Rise has a strong sales network across China. GC-Rise has successfully launched several products in the past year. GC Rise is backed by the international healthcare investment group Inventages, one of the largest venture capital firms specializing in life sciences, with more than $1.5 billion under management and operating on a global basis with offices in North America, Europe and Australasia. For further information about GC-Rise please see www.gc-rise.com.
JS Bio Pharm: JS Bio Pharm is a specialized distributor for pharmaceutical products, especially European Original products in dermatological and respiratory fields. JS Bio Pharm has a successful track record in the registration and marketing of herbal medicines in Korea. JS Bio Pharm is the spin-off company from Jesam Biozam Co., Ltd founded in 2003 and which is the Korean representative of PharmIntraco GmbH in Switzerland.