Dive Brief:
- Chinese biopharma Antengene has inked a deal with STA Pharmaceutical, a subsidiary of contract development and manufacturing organization WuXi AppTec. WuXi STA will provide CMC development and manufacturing services for Antengene's drugs.
- The agreement covers products in clinical trials and those on the market. The first will be ATG-008, licensed from Celgene and in Phase 2/3 clinical trials for solid tumors and blood cancer.
- The project will then expand into other products in the pipeline, as they move closer to the market. No financial details have been disclosed.
Dive Insight:
Antengene, with offices in Shanghai and Shaoxing City, uses both internal and external research and development resources to develop cancer and influenza drugs for the Asia-Pacific region. The company has signed two key development, manufacturing and commercialization partnerships to date. It has rights to Celgene's TORC1/2 kinase inhibitor, CC-223 (ATG-008), in East and Southeast Asia. ATG-008 is in the TORCH clinical trial in hepatitis B virus positive advanced hepatocellular carcinoma patients.
Antengene also has a deal covering four of Karyopharm’s clinical-stage oral drug candidates in a number of countries in Asia. These are: selinexor, a Phase 3 SINE compound; eltanexor, a second-generation SINE compound; verdinexor, in development for viral and other non-oncology indications; and KPT-9274, a dual inhibitor of PAK4 and NAMPT.
Working with a contract development and manufacturing organization provides small companies with flexibility and support as they move their first drugs towards the market. The deal with WuXi STA will initially focus on support for the Celgene partnership, and then expand.
"WuXi STA’s end-to-end CMC platform enables us to focus on our research and development, and to move our drug candidates from clinical-stage to commercialization more efficiently. We look forward to a much broader collaboration in the near future," said Jay Mei, CEO of Antengene.
WuXi has had a fast-moving 2018, with partnerships with a number of biopharma companies, backed up by expansions in its marketing capabilities in China and beyond. The contract manufacturing organization market overall is increasing, with a predicted growth rate of 7.24% compound annual growth rate between 2018 and 2022, according to a report from Orbis Research.