March 31, 2015
By Riley McDermid, BioSpace.com Breaking News Sr. Editor
Israeli biotech RedHill Biopharma Ltd. has bought the exclusive worldwide development and commercialization rights to ABC294640, a Phase I-stage anti-inflammatory small molecule under development at Apogee Biotechnology for $5.5 million, the company said Tuesday.
Under the terms of the deal, RedHill will pay an upfront fee of $1.5 million, as well as up to $4 million in milestones and tiered royalties on commercial sales starting in the low double-digits.
"We are very pleased to be collaborating with RedHill to advance the clinical development of ABC294640 for the potential benefit of cancer patients. We view RedHill as an outstanding partner for this effort, and are particularly impressed by their demonstrated commitment to tackling the difficult problem of improving therapeutic outcomes and the quality of life for cancer patients,” said Charles Smith, president and CEO at Apogee.
“Additionally, RedHill's expertise with gastrointestinal inflammatory diseases provides a very strong foundation for clinical testing of this drug candidate, and we are looking forward to a successful outcome of this collaboration."
The drug has been closely watched because ABC294640 has potential applications in various cancers, inflammatory and gastrointestinal diseases. So far, a Phase 1b/2 study in refractory/relapsed diffuse large B-cell lymphoma is slated for the second quarter of 2015, a trial which will be followed avidly by both Wall Street and venture capitalists looking for a promising new drug candidate with multiple applications.
"With a unique mechanism of action, ABC294640 is a novel potential treatment for multiple inflammatory and oncology diseases with strong unmet medical needs. In particular, the drug may be a unique and important treatment for prevention of severe toxicity and inflammation induced in many cancer patients by radiotherapy, while at the same time potentially enhancing the effectiveness of the radiotherapy treatment," said Terry Plasse, medical director at RedHill.
"We are looking forward to further advancing this promising program into clinical studies, and plan a Phase II study to evaluate the ability of ABC294640 to decrease radiotherapy-induced toxicity."
Today’s new addition means that RedHill's pipeline now includes three proprietary, Phase II-stage, orally-administered, first-in-class small molecule drug candidates intended to treat gastrointestinal and other solid tumor cancers.
It also has three ongoing Phase III studies in GI indications: RHB-105 for H. pylori infection, BEKINDA (RHB-102) for gastroenteritis, and RHB-104 for Crohn's disease.
RedHill’s other candidates include Mesupron, a urokinase-type plasminogen activator (uPA) inhibitor; and RP101, a heat shock protein 27 (Hsp27) inhibitor.
"With the acquisition of ABC294640 we adhere to RedHill's multiple-shots-on-goal strategy. The acquisition of this potential blockbuster further expands our late clinical-stage pipeline, reflecting RedHill's solid commitment to patients suffering from inflammatory and gastrointestinal diseases, including cancer, who are in need of new treatment options,” said Adi Frish, senior vice president of business development and licensing at RedHill.
“Thanks to the thorough development work conducted by Apogee, ABC294640 is supported by extensive pre-clinical, clinical and CMC package, as well as strong intellectual property protection, and we believe in its potential to become a leading treatment for multiple inflammatory, gastrointestinal and oncology indications,” she said. “We are excited to continue advancing this important novel drug candidate, and would like to thank our new partners at Apogee for entrusting us with the development and commercialization of ABC294640."
