Under the terms of the agreement, PharmaMar will receive an upfront payment as well as development milestones related to the health approval procedure of Aplidin® in this country. PharmaMar will retain exclusive production rights and will supply the finished product to Eczasibasi for commercial use.
Aplidin® is PharmaMar´s second most advanced anticancer drug currently under development for the treatment of multiple myeloma and angioimmunoblastic T-cell lymphoma. The Company announced in March 2016 that plitidepsin has shown positive results in a pivotal Phase III clinical trial (ADMYRE) for multiple myeloma and in September 2016, PharmaMar presented to the European Medicines Agency (EMA) the submission of the Marketing Authorization Application (MAA) for this drug in combination with dexamethasone for the treatment of relapsed/refractory multiple myeloma (MM) .
"The partnership with Eczasibasi will help in the commercialization in Turkey of plitidepsin, developed to tackle hematologic cancer. We are looking forward to working with one of the leading Health Care companies in this country", said Luis Mora, Managing Director of PharmaMar´s Oncology Business Unit. "We are firmly committed to advancing in the development of innovative oncology therapies", he added.
Atalay, CEO and President of the Eczasibasi Group, stated that "the agreement between PharmaMar and Eczac?ba?? Pharmaceuticals Marketing (EIP) offered a major advance for healthcare in Turkey, as Aplidin® represented the latest innovation in cancer treatment". Elif Çelik, Executive Vice President of the Eczasibasi Healthcare Division, noted that "the agreement ensured that multiple myeloma patients in Turkey would have access to the most innovative treatment at the same time as patients in other EU countries". She added that "the two parties hoped to extend the partnership to innovative products in other treatment areas as well".
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About APLIDIN® (plitidepsin)
Plitidepsin is an investigational anticancer agent of marine origin, originally obtained from the ascidian Aplidium albicans. It specifically binds to the eEF1A2 and targets the non-canonical role of this protein, resulting in tumor cell death via apoptosis (programed death). Plitidepsin is currently in clinical development for hematological cancers, including a Phase Ib trial in relapsed or refractory multiple myeloma as a triple combination of plitidepsin, bortezomib and dexamethasone, and a Phase II study in relapsed or refractory angioimmunoblastic T-cell lymphoma. A Phase III trial in multiple myeloma relapsed or refractory has been completed. Plitidepsin has received orphan drug designation in the European Union and the United States of America.
About Eczasibasi Group
Founded in 1942, Eczasibasi is a prominent Turkish industrial group, over 12,750 employees and a combined net turnover of TL 9.6 billion in 2016. Eczasibasi's core sectors are healthcare, consumer products and building products. Additionally, the Group is active in finance, welding technology and mining.
The pioneer of Turkey's pharmaceutical industry, the Eczasibasi Healthcare Division is unique in the breadth of its activities, which range from preventive care to early diagnosis and from innovative treatment to close patient follow-up and home care. Through this holistic approach, the Division contributes to wellbeing at every phase of human life.
EIP is a wholly-owned Eczasibasi Group company with an expertise in the marketing, sales and distribution of imported and locally manufactured pharmaceutical and health-based personal care products. EIP's diverse portfolio has a special focus on specialty care and rare diseases, and the company is now preparing to launch biosimilar products for cancer treatments not currently available in Turkey.
EIP has four strategic business units, with a sizeable sales force covering 25,000 physicians and 5,000 pharmacies all around Turkey. One of the fastest growing pharmaceutical companies in Turkey, EIP has numerous licensing agreements with multinational partners, among them Galderma, Procter&Gamble Health, Chugai Pharmaceutical, Cadila Healthcare, Astellas, and Tillots Pharma. Aplidin® is expected to be marketed in Turkey no later than 2020.
About PharmaMar
Headquartered in Madrid, PharmaMar is a world-leading biopharmaceutical company in the discovery and development of innovative marine-derived anticancer drugs. The company has an important pipeline of drug candidates and a robust R&D oncology program. PharmaMar develops and commercializes YONDELIS® in Europe and has three other clinical-stage programs under development for several types of solid and hematological cancers, PM1183, plitidepsin, and PM184. PharmaMar is a global biopharmaceutical company with subsidiaries in Germany, Italy, France, Switzerland, United Kingdom, Belgium, Austria and the United States. PharmaMar fully owns other companies: GENOMICA, Spain's leading molecular diagnostics company; Sylentis, dedicated to researching therapeutic applications of gene silencing (RNAi); and two other chemical enterprises, Zelnova Zeltia and Xylazel. To learn more about PharmaMar, please visit us at http://www.pharmamar.com.