Servier gains non-Hodgkin lymphoma drug from CTI BioPharma
pharmafile | October 3, 2019 | News story | Medical Communications, Sales and Marketing |
French pharma-giant Servier has purchased the medication Pixuvri, indicated for the treatment of non-Hodgkin B-cell lymphoma, from US-based CTI BioPharma.
Pixuvri is a cytotoxic drug designed to inhibit the DNA within cells thereby preventing them from making more DNA copies, which in turn blocks cancer cells from dividing and leads to their death.
The drug currently possesses European regulatory approval as monotherapy to treat adults with relapsed or refractory aggressive non-Hodgkin B-cell lymphoma.
The acquisition of PIXUVRI is an important step towards Servier’s long-term strategy to become a key player in oncology. Within oncology, one of our key focuses is haematology, and we now have two medicines that are marketed globally alongside a strong and innovative pipeline of drug candidates which includes CAR-T therapies,” said Claude Bertrand, Executive VP, and Global Head of R&D at Servier.
“As part of our strategy, we are committed to invest 50% of our R&D budget in oncology.”
A Phase 3 study, called PIX306, was recently completed to provide efficacy data to confirm the benefit of the treatment in patients that had received prior treatment regimens with rituximab.
Non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL) is a blood cancer that affects the lymphatic system. It can occur in different parts of the body from the lymph nodes in the neck to the liver or spleen, but also in other organs such as the stomach, small bowel, bones, brain, testicles or skin.
Globally there are over 500,000 new cases of NHL a year; it is both the 11th most commonly diagnosed cancer and cause of cancer death.
Specific financial details of the transaction are yet to be disclosed by either company.
Nik Kiran
