Athenex and its Collaborative Partner, Hanmi Pharmaceutical, Announce Strategic Realignment of their Joint Projects
September 12 2018 - 8:00AM
Athenex, Inc. (NASDAQ:ATNX), a global biopharmaceutical company
dedicated to the discovery, development and commercialization of
novel therapies for the treatment of cancer and related conditions,
and its business partner, Hanmi Pharmaceutical, today announced a
strategic realignment of their joint projects to further explore
and develop those projects worldwide.
Under the realignment, Athenex and Hanmi Pharmaceutical agree to
new arrangements in the following projects:
a) Orascovery Program – Extension of Athenex’s territories
to worldwide apart from Korea. In previous agreements,
Athenex in-licensed the rights of the Orascovery Program from Hanmi
Pharmaceutical for the US, Europe, Latin America, Japan, China and
the rest of Asia (apart from Korea). The revised agreement
will also provide Athenex with rights to the Middle East and North
Africa (“MENA”) as well as South Africa. Given the excellent
progress that has been made in the various clinical programs,
Athenex and Hanmi Pharmaceutical believe that global development of
the Orascovery Program under Athenex will result in more rapid
advancement of the clinical and regulatory process across the
globe. Hanmi Pharmaceutical, as a leader of the
pharmaceutical industry in Korea, will continue to oversee the
development and regulatory efforts in Korea.
b) KX-01 Oral Formulation – Athenex will receive back from
Hanmi Pharmaceutical the rights to KX-01 Oral Formulation for
Korea, China and other Asian territories. As recently
announced, KX-01 Ointment (KX2-391) was shown to be effective and
safe for actinic keratosis (AK) in two Phase 3 clinical studies
conducted in the US, with both studies having met their primary
endpoint of 100% clearance of AK lesions at Day 57 within the
treatment areas, with statistical significance (p<0.0001).
The arrangement will allow Athenex to explore the potential of
KX-01 Oral Formulation globally.
Dr. Johnson Lau, Athenex’s CEO and Chairman of the Board,
commented, “We are very pleased with the strategic realignment of
our collaborative partnership with our long-term partner, Hanmi
Pharmaceutical. This will allow both companies to capitalize
on their respective strengths, with the ultimate goal of bringing
benefits to patients globally as well as stakeholders of both
companies. We will continue to work diligently to advance
these programs as fast as we can.”
About Athenex, Inc.Founded in
2003, Athenex, Inc. is a global clinical stage
biopharmaceutical company dedicated to becoming a leader in the
discovery and development of next generation drugs for the
treatment of cancer. Athenex is organized around three
platforms, including an Oncology Innovation Platform, a Commercial
Platform and a Global Supply Chain Platform. Athenex’s Oncology
Innovation Platform generates clinical candidates through an
extensive understanding of kinases, including novel binding sites
and human absorption biology, as well as through the application of
Athenex’s proprietary research and selection processes in the lab.
The Company’s current clinical pipeline is derived from four
different platform technologies: (1) Orascovery based on
non-absorbed P-glycoprotein inhibitor, (2) Src kinase inhibition,
(3) T-cell receptor-engineered T-cells (TCR-T), and (4) metabolic
manipulation of cancer. The Orascovery platform is based on the
novel oral P-glycoprotein pump inhibitor molecule HM30181A, which
is able to facilitate oral absorption of traditional cytotoxics,
which Athenex believes may offer improved patient
tolerability and efficacy as compared to IV administration of the
same cytotoxics. The Orascovery platform was developed
by Hanmi Pharmaceuticals and licensed exclusively
to Athenex for all major worldwide territories
except Korea, which is retained by Hanmi. The Src Kinase
Inhibition platform refers to novel small molecule compounds that
have multiple mechanisms of action, including the inhibition of the
activity of Src Kinase and the inhibition of tubulin polymerization
during cell division. The TCR-T platform is a cancer immunotherapy
platform originally developed by Xiangxue Life Sciences.
Athenex has established and is leading a Joint Venture with
Xiangxue Life Sciences that owns the global rights to this program,
apart from China. The metabolic manipulation of cancer
was through depletion of circulating arginine, an amino acid that
can be made by normal cells but not by a significant proportion of
cancer through interruption of their urea cycle, a pathway
essential for the synthesis of arginine, and thereby starving the
cancer cells with interrupted urea
cycle. Athenex believes the combination of these
mechanisms of action provides a broader range of anti-cancer
activity as compared to either mechanism of action alone.
Athenex’s employees worldwide are dedicated to improving the
lives of cancer patients by creating more active and tolerable
treatments. Athenex has offices
in Buffalo and Clarence, New York; Cranford,
New Jersey; Houston, Texas; Chicago, Illinois; Hong
Kong; Taipei, Taiwan and multiple locations
in Chongqing, China.
CONTACTS: Athenex Contacts Investor Relations:
Tim McCarthy Managing Director, LifeSci Advisors, LLC Tel: +1
212-915-2564
Athenex, Inc.: Randoll Sze
Email: randollsze@athenex.com Jacqueline Li
Email: jacquelineli@athenex.com
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