celltherapy

Cell Therapy signs £12.5 million licensing deal with Daiichi Sankyo for heart failure treatment

pharmafile | May 10, 2016 | News story | Manufacturing and Production, Research and Development, Sales and Marketing Daiichi Sankyo, Deals, cell therapy, heart failure, licensing 

UK-based Cell Therapy on Tuesday said it has signed a £12.5 million licensing deal with Japan’s Daiichi Sankyo (TYO: 4568) for its heart failure treatment, Heartcel. 

Under the terms of the deal Daiichi Sankyo will undertake all development, regulatory and commercial activities for Heartcel in Japan. CTL will also be eligible to receive additional milestone payments and royalties. 

Ajan Reginald, chief executive of CTL, said: “The accelerated regulatory pathway for regenerative medicines in Japan enables faster patient access, making it a natural priority for us. This allows CTL to focus on US and European Phase III trials and accelerating the development of our pre-clinical pipeline.” 

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Heartcel, or immuno-modulatory progenitor (iMP) cell, is a regenerative heart product currently in trial.   

Heart failure affects about 26 million people worldwide. The condition leads to a progressive degenerative scarring of the heart. CTL said iMP cells were injected into the cardiac scar during bypass surgery in a Phase II clinical trial of 11 severe heart failure patients at high risk of incomplete re-vascularisation. 

At 12 months following treatment, results showed a 30% improvement in heart function as well as a 40% decrease in cardiac scar area and significant improvement in quality of life, the company said in a statement. 

Anjali Shukla

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