Alize Pharma Licenses ASPAREC Therapy for ALL to EUSA Pharma
Alize Pharma II, recently announced the signing of a licensing agreement with EUSA Pharma for ASPAREC, a new L-asparaginase product currently in Phase I clinical development for the treatment of acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL).
Pursuant to the agreement, EUSA Pharma will be responsible for the development and worldwide commercialization of ASPAREC. In return, Alize Pharma has received an up-front payment and will be entitled to additional regulatory milestone payments and royalties on sales. The companies have not disclosed further financial information.
ASPAREC is Alize Pharma’s PEGylated recombinant L-asparaginase derived from Erwinia chrysanthemi. It is being developed as a treatment for ALL in patients with hypersensitivity to E. coli-derived L-asparaginase. Preclinical data indicate that ASPAREC is both longer acting and less immunogenic than the currently available Erwinia chrysanthemi-derived L-asparaginase product.
“This agreement between Alize Pharma and EUSA Pharma, a worldwide leader in the development and marketing of L-asparaginase products, is excellent news for us, for our investors, and for ALL patients,” said Alize Pharma’s President and Founder, Thierry Abribat. “It validates our medical approach, emphasizes our drug development capabilities, and fits well with our business strategy, which is to establish partnerships with the pharmaceutical industry early in the development of our programs in order to secure both near-term and long-term revenue streams.”
“We are delighted to reach this agreement with Alize Pharma. ASPAREC fits perfectly with EUSA’s specialty focus on oncology and orphan diseases and builds on our established portfolio in the field of acute lymphoblastic leukemia,” added Bryan Morton, President and CEO of EUSA Pharma. “This agreement follows the approval last year of EUSA’s first internally developed product and further underlines the company’s strategic transition into a fully fledged development as well as commercialization organization.”
Alize Pharma is a group of companies specialized in the development of innovative biopharmaceutical drugs, proteins, and peptides for the treatment of metabolic diseases and cancer. Its management is made up of a team of drug development experts and a board of directors offering wide international experience. Since its inception in 2007, the group has raised EUR 5 million with private and institutional investors. The first of the two entities of the Group, Alize Pharma SAS, is dedicated to AZP-01, a peptide derived from unacylated ghrelin, currently at the preclinical stage of development for the treatment of type II diabetes and other metabolic and cardiovascular indications. The second entity, Alize Pharma II SAS, is focused on the development of ASPAREC (AZP-02), a new PEGylated recombinant L-asparaginase for the treatment of ALL, currently in Phase I clinical development.
EUSA Pharma is a rapidly growing transatlantic specialty pharmaceutical company focused on oncology, oncology supportive care, and critical care products. The company has an established commercial infrastructure in the
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