Amgen signs Servier deal
pharmafile | July 11, 2013 | News story | Sales and Marketing | Amgen, Servier, heart, procoloran
Amgen has gained rights in the US to two of Servier’s heart drugs: the novel, oral Procoralan and investigational Phase II compound S38844 as part of a new deal.
In return, the French pharma manufacturer will get the rights to commercialise Amgen’s own investigational product omecamtiv mecarbil in Europe, currently being tested in heart failure for patients with systolic dysfunction.
Procoralan (ivabradine) is an If inhibitor approved last year in Europe for chronic heart failure, and which has been authorised since 2005 to treat stable angina in patients with elevated heart rates.
Amgen has paid $50 million upfront for the privilege of US access and will also be liable for future milestone and royalty payments.
Meanwhile S38844 is in studies for the treatment of heart failure although Amgen is tight-lipped about how much it has paid for rights.
Similarly, Servier is not revealing how much it has spent for omecamtiv mecarbil, which is being developed by Cytokinetics and Amgen and which activates heart muscle contractility to strengthen the organ’s function.
What is known, however, is that the two companies will be able to exercise their respective options for the investigational therapies up to completion of certain Phase II studies.
“A critical unmet medical need remains for patients who don’t respond adequately to current available therapies for heart failure and angina,” said Sean Harper, R&D executive vice president at Amgen.
“Ivabradine…offers a novel alternative approach for patients with elevated heart rates,” he added.
Servier R&D chief Emmanuel Canet said his firm’s expertise in heart failure will “complement Amgen’s efforts in making omecamtiv mecarbil, a very innovative and complementary approach to treating heart failure, available to patients in Europe”.
The French firm has been boosted recently, with the arrival of gevokizumab, the first biologic molecule it has taken into clinical development.
The interleukin 1-beta (IL-1β) allosteric modulating antibody-based drug is in Phase III as a treatment for non-infectious uveitis, an inflammatory disease of the eye.
Adam Hill
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