NEWS


Aeterna Zentaris and Hikma Pharmaceuticals in oncology compound agreement


Aeterna Zentaris Inc and Hikma Pharmaceuticals PLC have signed an exclusive


commercialisation and licensing agreement for the registration and marketing of perifosine, Aeterna Zentaris’ lead anti-cancer compound, for the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. Perifosine, a novel oral Akt inhibitor, is currently in two Phase 3 programmes for the treatment of colorectal cancer and multiple myeloma in the USA and Europe. Under the terms of the agreement, Aeterna Zentaris is entitled to receive an upfront payment and additional payments upon achieving certain pre-established milestones in the aggregate of US$2 million. Furthermore, Aeterna Zentaris will be supplying perifosine to Hikma Pharmaceuticals on a cost-plus- basis and is entitled to receive double-digit royalties on future net sales of perifosine in the MENA region. Hikma Pharmaceuticals will be responsible for the registration and commercialisation of perifosine in the MENA territory. Perifosine is a novel, oral anti- cancer treatment that inhibits Akt activation in the PI3K pathway. The FDA has granted perifosine orphan drug designation in multiple myeloma and neuroblastoma, and Fast Track designations in both multiple myeloma and refractory advanced colorectal cancer. Additionally, an agreement was reached with the FDA to conduct the Phase 3 trials in both of these indications under a Special Protocol Assessment. Perifosine has also been granted orphan medicinal product designation from EMA in multiple myeloma. Perifosine rights have been licensed to Keryx


Biopharmaceuticals, Inc for North America, to Yakult Honsha for Japan, and to Handok for Korea.


8 sp2 November/December 2011 Cyprotex US facility expands to double size


Preclinical ADME-Tox services company Cyprotex PLC is to expand its US facility located in Watertown, near Boston, Massachusetts in January 2012 from 4,400 sq ft to 8,200 sq ft. The company says the expansion is driven by strong demand in North America for its services and an increasing worldwide demand for the speciality in-vitro toxicology services provided by


the Watertown facility. The original facility became part of Cyprotex with the company’s August 2010 acquisition of Apredica. Dr Tony Baxter, Cyprotex’s CEO, commented: “Cyprotex’s increasingly acute need to expand the Watertown facility is the consequence of a series of successful strategic efforts, including our entry into the in-vitro toxicology market. In 2011, we


BioCity Nottingham attracts new companies starte by former Big Pharma employees


Six new companies started by former AstraZeneca Charnwood employees have set up within BioCity Nottingham, resulting in 35 new jobs created at BioCity out of the closure of the Charnwood, UK site. In addition, scientists from the Pfizer facility in Sandwich are enquiring about BioCity support with the first virtual tenant recently confirmed. In March 2010, BioCity Nottingham responded to AstraZeneca’s closure plans for the Charnwood site by offering a package of support to its employees that included training, advice and help with office or lab accommodation, and the new ventures are a result of that initiative.


Already operating within BioCity is BAST Inc, founded by former Global Discipline Lead for Pharmacometrics at


AstraZeneca, Dr Joachim Grevel. Also on site at BioCity is Sarah


Hill, a former clinical researcher at AstraZeneca, who has launched Genios Limited, following a year of BioCity support. Former associate principal scientist in drug metabolism and pharmacokinetics (DMPK) at AstraZeneca, Dr Richard Weaver, has already moved his company XenoGesis Limited into BioCity, and Dr Gary Allenby has established Aurelia Bioscience, a preclinical biology-based screening company, at the bioscience incubator. Early November will see the arrival of Julie Corfield who, as former R&D Biobank Head at


Charnwood, will take on the helm VIDEO LINK


To view a BBC news report on BioCity Nottingham click on the following link (the copyright on this video is owned by the BBC): http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-15781592


BAC and GE Healthcare introduce VIISelect Bioprocess media


BAC BV, a provider of antibody- based affinity purification technology, has introduced a new bioprocess affinity chromatography resin for GE Healthcare Life Sciences’ portfolio of custom-designed media. The FactorVII / FactorVIIa resin will be marketed under the name VIISelect and is the latest addition to a series of chromatography media developed for the purification of blood coagulants. VIISelect


started as a custom ligand design programme to develop chromatography media for the highly selective purification of human FactorVII / FactorVIIa. Following the discovery, GE Healthcare and BAC worked with a customer company to develop the final media suitable for cGMP production of Factor VIIa. VIISelect media now offers a ready-to-use solution for the manufacturing of recombinant FactorVII / FactorVIIa ensuring a


high purity product in a single step. Factor VIIa plays an important role in the blood coagulation cascade and recombinant Factor VIIa is used to treat and prevent bleeding episodes in hemophilia A and B patients with inhibitors to Factor VIII or Factor IX, and in patients with acquired hemophilia. Increasingly it is being used to treat uncontrollable hemorrhages. For further information visit www.bacbv.com


have continued to focus on growth, most recently with the launch of our new genomic ADME service, gADME, which allows tailored dosage regimens of drugs based on genetics. This new service opens new commercial possibilities for compounds that historically may have had to be discontinued from development. With this new technology, Cyprotex is bringing personalised medicine into discovery programmes.”


of Areteva Ltd, a consultancy for biobanking, biomedical research and clinical drug development.. Pharmaceutical consultant, Dr Jenny Walsh is a former AstraZeneca employee who is now a BioCity ‘virtual tenant’, and Dr Karen Spink, a former Pfizer scientist, has become the latest virtual tenant at the bioincubator. Her new venture with The Research Network (TRN) offers in-depth scientific expertise in drug discovery and preclinical development to manage and advise on outsourced research strategy.


The AstraZeneca Charnwood facility will finally close at the end of the year. The future for the Pfizer site at Sandwich remains uncertain.


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