Date: 2015-08-04
Type of information: Licensing agreement
Compound: [18F]DCFPyL
Company: Progenics Pharmaceuticals (USA - NY) Johns Hopkins University (USA - MD)
Therapeutic area: Cancer - Oncology - Diagnostic
Type agreement: licensing
Action mechanism: imaging agent. PyL ([18F]DCFPyL) is a clinical-stage, fluorinated PSMA-targeted PET imaging agent for prostate cancer. PyL was developed by a team led by Martin G. Pomper , M.D., Ph.D at the Center for Translational Molecular Imaging at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. A proof-of-concept study published in the April 2015 issue of the Journal of Molecular Imaging and Biology demonstrated that PET imaging with PyL showed high levels of PyL uptake in sites of putative metastatic disease and primary tumors, suggesting the potential for high sensitivity and specificity in detecting prostate cancer.
Disease: prostate cancer
Details: * On August 4, 2015, Progenics Pharmaceuticals announced that it has entered into an exclusive worldwide licensing agreement with Johns Hopkins University for [18F]DCFPyL (\"PyL\"), a clinical-stage prostate specific membrane antigen (PSMA)-targeted imaging agent for prostate cancer. PyL, when used in conjunction with high-resolution PET imaging, has shown potential for use in identifying prostate cancer and sites of relapse. An early stage clinical trial of PyL with PET imaging in men with prostate cancer demonstrated uptake of PyL in sites of putative metastatic disease and primary tumors not seen with currently approved imaging techniques, suggesting the potential for high sensitivity and specificity in detecting prostate cancer. PyL complements Progenics\' existing portfolio of candidates for the detection and treatment of prostate cancer, including 1404, the Company\'s lead PSMA-targeted imaging agent that is used in conjunction with widely-available SPECT-CT imaging. Progenics intends to initiate a Phase 3 program for 1404 for initial diagnosis and early monitoring applications, while initially focusing the development of PyL with high resolution PET imaging to detect and localize recurrent disease in patients who have experienced a biochemical relapse.
Financial terms: Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed.
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