Date: 2015-12-15
Type of information: Licensing agreement
Compound: IFN alpha-Kinoïd
Company: Neovacs (France) Chong Kun Dang (CKD) Pharmaceutical (South Korea)
Therapeutic area: Autoimmune diseases - Dermatological diseases
Type agreement: licensing commercialisation
Action mechanism: kinoid. A Kinoid is obtained by chemically linking the cytokine of interest to a foreign carrier protein and then treating the resultant compound to inactivate the cytokine. These active immunotherapies have been designed to induce an antibody response by the patient’s immune system that targets a particular over-expressed cytokine responsible for the pathogenesis and development of a given disease. The Kinoid technology can be applied in principle to any cytokine target. Three targets (Tumor Necrosis Factor (TNF), Interferon alpha (IFNalpha) and Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor (VEGF) are considered as playing a key role in the pathogenesis of certain diseases.
Disease: lupus, dermatomyositis
Details: * On December 15, 2015, Neovacs announced the signature of an exclusive licensing agreement with Chong Kun Dang (CKD) Pharmaceutical Corp. (Seoul, South Korea) to market the IFN?-Kinoïd for the indications lupus and dermatomyositis, in South Korea. In this country Lupus is considered as an orphan disease, with an estimated market just below 20,000 patients. This should enable CKD to start the registration process with the South Korean health authority by the end of 2017, following successful completion of the ongoing Phase IIb trial which includes five investigation centers in South Korea. “This first partnering has a great priority for Neovacs as it should enable market access by early 2018 for IFN?-Kinoïd. We are very confident that with CKD we have the right partner for South Korea. More than thousand Korean patients are expected to be treated and followed between 2018 and 2020, in parallel to the Phase III trials -Europe and America- which should also include approximately thousand patients. When filing for registration in Europe, USA and Asia, Neovacs should therefore have data concerning safety, tolerability and efficacy from more than two thousand patients,” said Miguel Sieler, CEO of Neovacs.
Financial terms: Under the terms of this agreement, Neovacs will receive five million euros in total, with one million as down-payment followed by milestone payments until first sales. Furthermore, Neovacs will also receive royalties on sales and a margin within the transfer price, as Neovacs will assure the supply of the finished product to CKD.
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