Aslan licences promising cancer drug from Bristol-Myers Squibb
pharmafile | November 7, 2011 | News story | Research and Development, Sales and Marketing | Aslan, BMS, Cancer
Bristol-Myers Squibb has licensed one of its investigational oncology compounds, for the treatment of multiple solid tumours, to Singapore-based Aslan Pharmaceuticals.
BMS-777607 is a small molecule inhibitor of the MET receptor tyrosine kinase. No financial details of the agreement were forthcoming, but Aslan will run and fund its development, initially targeting gastric and lung cancer.
The company has been given exclusive rights to develop and commercialise the drug in China, Australia, Korea, Taiwan and other Asian countries, while BMS retains rights for the rest of the world.
Aslan chief executive Carl Firth said: “This ground-breaking partnership demonstrates how a leading Asian drug development company can work together with a global biopharmaceutical company to accelerate drug development and conduct early clinical studies in Asia in areas of significant unmet need.”
The agreement fits squarely with Aslan’s business model: in July it licensed an HER2/EGFR inhibitor from Array BioPharma – again funding and developing ARRY-543 through a development programme in Asia, targeting patients with gastric cancer.
For BMS the deal also fits in with its so-called ‘oyster’ strategy, which is based around seeding companies in key markets with investigational drugs that are of ongoing interest to the manufacturer.
Francis Cuss, BMS senior vice president of research said: “Partners like Aslan run and fund early development, working closely with BMS, to produce high quality data that may be used to further develop and commercialise the medicine worldwide.”
As well as oncology, Aslan wants to in-licence pre-clinical and Phase I compounds across therapy areas including respiratory and inflammation.
Drugs currently used to treat gastric cancer include Roche’s Herceptin (trastuzumab) and Xeloda (capecitabine), as well as Novartis’ Glivec (imatinib) for the treatment of gastrointestinal stromal tumours (GISTs).
Adam Hill
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