Aeterna Zentaris and Armune BioScience Finalize Co-Marketing Agreement for APIFINY® Prostate Cancer Blood Test
December 01 2015 - 8:30AM
Business Wire
Transaction enhances focus on oncology market
Aeterna Zentaris Inc. (NASDAQ: AEZS) (TSX: AEZ) (the “Company”)
today announced the finalization of a co-marketing agreement with
Armune BioScience, Inc. (“Armune”) that will allow the Company to
promote Armune’s APIFINY®, the only cancer specific, non-PSA blood
test for the detection of prostate cancer.
Under the co-marketing agreement, the Company will promote
APIFINY to designated medical professionals in its U.S. territories
and will receive a commission for each test performed resulting
from its targeted promotion. Jude Dinges, Senior Vice President and
Chief Commercial Officer of Aeterna Zentaris, commented on the
agreement: “APIFINY represents an important addition to clinical
information pertaining to the detection of prostate cancer. It is a
simple, non-PSA based measure for patients and their clinicians to
aid in assessment of prostate cancer risk. Importantly, this
product enhances our focus on the oncology marketplace in general
and on the diagnosis, monitoring and treatment of prostate cancer
in particular. It was recently reported that our Zoptrex™ product
has demonstrated potential as a treatment for certain types of
prostate cancer in an investigator-sponsored Phase II trial and,
therefore, we have a keen interest in products that relate to the
condition.”
Discussing the potential for a broader collaboration between the
Company and Armune, Richard Sachse, MD PhD, Senior Vice President
and Chief Scientific Officer of the Company, commented, “It will be
an exciting opportunity to qualify APIFINY as a companion
diagnostic for therapeutic decision-making and for
disease-monitoring within our ongoing Zoptrex™ development program
or potential successor programs, if we decide to go forward in
prostate cancer or any other cancer suitable for Armune’s
compelling technology platform.”
David A. Dodd, Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer
of the Company, commented on the opportunity, stating “Promoting
APIFINY will give our sales force experience in the oncology
market, which will serve us well as we move toward the
commercialization of Zoptrex™, if it is approved by the FDA. We are
also looking forward to developing a much more in-depth
relationship with Armune in connection with the evaluation of
Zoptrex™ for prostate cancer and perhaps other indications.”
“We are very excited to begin our partnership with Aeterna
Zentaris through this initial agreement,” commented David A.
Esposito, President and Chief Executive Officer of Armune
BioScience. “The experience and expertise of the commercial and
research teams at Aeterna Zentaris will be extremely helpful to
Armune as we accelerate the growth of APIFINY and develop our
autoantibody technology across major areas of unmet need in cancer.
In less than eight months on the market, APIFINY has been ordered
over 2,500 times as clinicians move beyond PSA-based testing to
assess prostate cancer risk. Aeterna Zentaris will help us achieve
the full potential of this opportunity.”
About Prostate Cancer
Other than skin cancer, prostate cancer is the most common
cancer in American men. The American Cancer Society predicted that
220,800 new cases of prostate cancer in the United States would
occur in 2015, that there would be 27,540 prostate cancer deaths
during the year and that one man in seven would be diagnosed with
prostate cancer during his lifetime. Approximately 60% of prostate
cancer is diagnosed in men aged 65 or older, and it is rare before
age 40. Prostate cancer is the second leading cause of cancer death
in American men, behind only lung cancer. Prostate cancer can be a
serious disease, but most men diagnosed with prostate cancer do not
die from it. In fact, more than 2.9 million men in the United
States who have been diagnosed with prostate cancer at some point
are still alive today.
About APIFINY®
APIFINY is the only cancer-specific, non-PSA blood test that may
aid clinicians in the detection of prostate cancer. APIFINY
technology measures the body’s immune response to cancer and is
based on the measurement of eight prostate-cancer-specific
autoantibodies in human serum. These autoantibodies are produced
and amplified by the immune system in response to the presence of
prostate cancer cells. The autoantibodies are stable and, because
of their amplification, are likely to be abundant and easy to
detect, especially with small tumors characteristic of early-stage
cancers. The autoantibody markers span a range of biological
functions integral to prostate-cancer progression. Cell cycle,
structure, and cellular signaling pathways are all represented. The
use of APIFINY results supplement other information about a
patient’s risk of prostate cancer and may therefore aid clinicians
in the detection of prostate cancer.
About Armune BioScience
Armune is a medical diagnostics company that develops and
commercializes unique proprietary technology exclusively licensed
from the University of Michigan for diagnostic and prognostic tests
for cancer. The Armune BioScience Laboratory is a commercial
reference laboratory, certified and regulated by the federal
Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendments (CLIA) law established
in 1988. The laboratory’s CLIA Certificate permits it to perform
APIFINY and other high-complexity medical tests. Armune, a private
company, has a corporate headquarters in Kalamazoo, MI and a
research and commercial laboratory in Ann Arbor, MI. For more
information, visit www.armune.com.
About Aeterna Zentaris
Aeterna Zentaris is a specialty biopharmaceutical company
engaged in developing and commercializing novel treatments in
oncology, endocrinology and women’s health. We are engaged in drug
development activities and in the promotion of products for others.
The focus of our business development efforts is the acquisition of
licenses to products that are relevant to our therapeutic areas of
focus. We also intend to license out certain commercial rights of
internally developed products to licensees in territories where
such out-licensing would enable us to ensure development,
registration and launch of our product candidates. Our goal is to
become a growth-oriented specialty biopharmaceutical company by
pursuing successful development and commercialization of our
product portfolio, achieving successful commercial presence and
growth, while consistently delivering value to our shareholders,
employees and the medical providers and patients who will benefit
from our products. For more information, visit www.aezsinc.com.
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Aeterna Zentaris Inc.Philip Theodore, 843-900-3223Senior Vice
Presidentptheodore@aezsinc.com
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