On September 16, 2021 Tarveda Therapeutics, Inc. ("Tarveda"), a clinical stage biopharmaceutical company developing a new class of potent and selective precision oncology medicines, which it refers to as Pentarin miniature drug conjugates, reported that the company has entered into a collaboration and license agreement with SciClone Pharmaceuticals (Holdings) Limited ("SciClone") (Press release, Tarveda Therapeutics, SEP 16, 2021, View Source [SID1234587846]). Pursuant to the license agreement, Tarveda has granted an exclusive license permitting SciClone to develop, manufacture and commercialize a preclinical-stage product portfolio of miniature drug conjugates that consist of a phosphoinositide 3-kinase (PI3K) inhibitor (undisclosed) payload moiety, a linker and a heat shock protein 90 (HSP90) binding moiety in Greater China, including Mainland China, Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan.
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This license agreement builds on Tarveda and SciClone’s existing exclusive licensing agreement signed in March 2020 to partner in Greater China for PEN-866, a miniature drug conjugate which is designed to bind to the activated form of HSP90 and accumulate and release its potent topoisomerase 1 inhibitor (SN-38) payload in solid tumors. Under the terms of the expanded license agreement, SciClone will pay Tarveda an upfront fee, make an equity investment and provide additional payments upon achievement of various pre-determined development, regulatory approval and commercial milestones. Further, Tarveda will be eligible to receive royalties based on net sales of the licensed product portfolio in Greater China.
"We are excited to expand our relationship with SciClone Pharmaceuticals," said Brian Roberts, President and Chief Executive Officer of Tarveda. "Our organizations have been collaborating closely on PEN-866 with full alignment on our collective goal of bringing a novel treatment to patients with various solid tumors. SciClone Pharmaceuticals has proven to be a reliable and outstanding partner with deep product, regulatory and commercialization experience in Greater China and we are thrilled to broaden our partnership beyond PEN-866 to also include our pre-clinical PI3K miniature drug conjugates."
Zhao Hong, President and Chief Executive Officer of SciClone commented, "Tarveda’s Pentarin HSP90 binding miniature drug conjugate platform offers a promising novel approach to the development of precision oncology medicines. Since March 2020, SciClone and Tarveda have established a positive relationship of favorable interactions and mutual trust through co-developing PEN-866. We are delighted to broaden the collaboration and strategic partnership with Tarveda and we believe the closer relationship will further strengthen the complementary advantages of both parties in pre-clinical research, clinical development and other aspects. We are looking forward to advancing research and development of the licensed product portfolio together with Tarveda to bolster our innovative pipeline of miniature drug conjugates and address significant unmet medical needs across a broad spectrum of tumor types as soon as we can."
In a preclinical study evaluating an HSP90 binding miniature drug conjugate with a pan-PI3K payload in solid tumors, the licensed product portfolio demonstrated rapid and sustained tumor accumulation of the conjugate, deep pathway inhibition, and superior efficacy than the PI3K inhibitor on its own. If proven in human clinical trials, this approach has the potential to deliver improved efficacy of this important class of inhibitors, with applicability across a wide range of tumor types.