SURESNES, France; MILANO, Italy – 1 October, 2012 – Ethical Oncology Science (EOS) and Servier have sealed a collaboration and license agreement to further develop EOS’ antitumor drug E-3810. Under the terms of this agreement, EOS will receive a €45 million upfront payment, and Servier will obtain an exclusive license covering the world with the exception of the United States, Japan and China. In addition, for an undisclosed amount, EOS will receive clinical and registration milestones as well as royalties. The partnership will actively build on the promising results of the Phase I-IIa Study, especially regarding the treatment of breast cancer.
E-3810 is a novel kinase inhibitor targeting efficiently both Fibroblast Growth Factor Receptor 1 (FGFR1) and Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor
Receptor-1-3 (VEGFR-1-3) and this unique activity profile confers specific antitumor activity in FGFR1-dependent tumors and a strong antiangiogenic effect.
In a public presentation held today at the 2012 conference of the European Society of Medical Oncology, Dr R. Dienstmann from Val d’Hebron University Hospital, Barcelona, has disclosed the promising results of the open-label extension of the first-in-human trial conducted in 51 patients bearing advanced solid tumors not amenable to standard therapy and with molecular or clinical characteristics suggesting potential benefit from E-3810. The presentation highlighted the outstanding antitumor activity observed in breast cancer. E-3810 has shown significant activity in this heavily pre-treated population with objective responses in 7 out of 10 women with evaluable breast cancer presenting alteration of FGFR pathway.
Prof. Jean-Charles Soria, M.D., Ph.D., head of early clinical trials department at Institut Gustave Roussy, Villejuif (France), and involved in the trial since inception, commented: “I am very impressed by the results obtained so far with the drug. Considering my last 10-year experience in drug development, these data definitely reveals an outstanding antitumor activity.”
“We are pleased to start this collaboration with a very professional team.
The results observed in this study are particularly promising and we plan to start soon several phase II trials to confirm the high therapeutic potential of this drug”, said Stéphane Depil, M.D., Ph.D., in charge of Oncology Research & Development at Servier. “Today’s announcement further underscores Servier’s commitment to develop novel targeted therapies that address significant unmet medical needs for cancer patients,” added Emmanuel Canet, M.D., Ph.D., President Research & Development at Servier.
Silvano Spinelli, Chief Executive and co-Founder of EOS, said. “This deal with Servier provides EOS the tremendous potential to rapidly progress
E-3810 through Phase II-III studies while retaining commercial rights for important oncological markets. We are confident that E-3810 represents a breakthrough in the clinical management of several solid tumors.
About Breast Cancer
Breast cancer is the most common cancer in women, accounting yearly for approximately 30% of newly diagnosed cases and ranking second as a cause of death. Despite improvements in breast cancer detection and development of new therapeutic approaches, not only there are still tumors for which no targeted therapies are available, but the high incidence of relapse leave a challenging therapeutic need. The last decade, some concern has risen about the heterogeneous characteristics of breast cancer, from the cellular morphology to the array of expressed genes in individual tumors. There are specific genetic alterations that are found in a relatively high percentage of breast cancers, opening avenues for specific targeted therapeutic approaches. Development of new blood vessels is essential for tumor growth (a process known as angiogenesis) and anti VEGF treatment may override this process.
About EOS S.p.A.
EOS S.p.A. (Ethical Oncology Science) is a biopharmaceutical company headquartered in Milan, Italy, developing novel targeted medicines to treat cancer. EOS was founded by a team of bio-entrepreneurs with decades of experience in translational medicine in oncology. EOS is a privately held organization financed by founders and by Sofinnova Partners, AESCAP Venture and Principia SGR. EOS has in-licensed E-3810 (proposed INN lucitanib) in 2008, when the molecule was in early preclinical stage, from Advenchen Laboratories (Moorpak, CA). After the agreement with Servier, EOS retains commercial rights for E-3810 in US and Japan. EOS was advised for this transaction by Stifel, Nicolaus Weisel.
More information is available at: www.eosmilano.com
About Servier Servier is a privately-run French research-based pharmaceutical company.
Current therapeutic domains for Servier medicines are cardiovascular, metabolic, neurological, psychiatric and bone and joint diseases, as well as oncology. Servier is established in 140 countries worldwide with over 20,000 employees and a 2011 turnover of €3.9 billion. Servier invests 25% of its turnover in R&D.
More information is available at: http://www.servier.com
Les Laboratoires Servier: Servier Communication Department Tel +33 (0)1 55
72 60 37 E-mail: presse@servier.fr
EOS: Paola Pizzi Tel (+39)0287391608 E-mail: info@eosmilano.com
