Home > News > featured news > Crescita Signs Exclusive 8-Country Licensing Agreement with Egis Pharmaceuticals for Pliaglis®

BUSINESS INSIGHTS

Crescita Signs Exclusive 8-Country Licensing Agreement with Egis Pharmaceuticals for Pliaglis®

Crescita Therapeutics | December 13, 2021

Crescita Therapeutics Inc. a growth-oriented, innovation-driven Canadian commercial dermatology company, is pleased to announce that it has signed an exclusive commercialization and supply agreement with Egis Pharmaceuticals PLC a leading generic pharmaceutical company in Central Eastern Europe for the rights to Pliaglis in eight countries comprising Hungary, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Poland, Russia, Latvia and Lithuania.

Under the terms of the agreement, Crescita will receive an upfront payment of €0.65M and is eligible for further cumulative sales and regulatory milestone payments over the term of the agreement. Egis will sell Pliaglis through its own commercial infrastructure in CEE and Russia, where the company is well established. Crescita will be the exclusive supplier of Pliaglis at a defined price per unit and will also provide regulatory support to Egis in seeking approval for Pliaglis in the Territories. Egis expects to launch Pliaglis in Poland in early 2023 and will submit the requisite regulatory filings as soon as practicable to ensure that Pliaglis is launched promptly in the other territories.

“We are extremely pleased to partner with Egis. With its commitment to innovation, strong international presence and robust sales network, Egis represents a partner of choice in these Territories. Yet again, we have further expanded the footprint of Pliaglis worldwide, where it is now licensed in a total of 40 countries. Pliaglis is a pivotal asset for Crescita and is key to helping unlock the long-term value of our company. We look forward to a strong collaboration with Egis as we continue to secure recurring revenue streams,” added Mr. Verreault."

Serge Verreault, President and CEO of Crescita

“We are glad to enter such a great and promising partnership with Crescita. Pliaglis will be a flagship product in our new portfolio providing an excellent therapeutic solution in aesthetic dermatology. With its strong R&D focus in dermatology, we hope to further build this partnership and bring additional value-added medical solutions for patients via Egis’ excellent commercial capabilities in the region,” stated Dr. István Hodász, CEO of Egis.

About Crescita Therapeutics Inc.
Crescita is a growth-oriented, innovation-driven Canadian commercial dermatology company with in-house R&D and manufacturing capabilities. The Company offers a portfolio of high-quality, science-based non-prescription skincare products and early to commercial stage prescription products. We also own multiple proprietary transdermal delivery platforms that support the development of patented formulations that facilitate the delivery of active ingredients into or through the skin.

About Egis Pharmaceuticals PLC
Egis headquartered in Budapest, Hungary, is one of the leading generic pharmaceutical companies in Central and Eastern Europe. The company’s activities extend to every field of the pharmaceutical value chain: from research and development through the production of active pharmaceutical ingredients and finished drug products to sales and marketing. Egis products are available in 60 countries through its network of subsidiaries and representative offices or partners.

About Pliaglis®
Pliaglis is a topical local anaesthetic cream that provides safe and effective local dermal analgesia on intact skin prior to superficial dermatological procedures. The formulation contains a eutectic mixture of 7% lidocaine and 7% tetracaine that utilizes Crescita's proprietary phase-changing topical cream Peel technology. The Peel technology consists of a drug-containing cream which, once applied to a patient's skin, dries to form a pliable layer that releases the active ingredients into the skin. Pliaglis is applied to intact skin 20 to 30 minutes prior to superficial dermatological procedures such as dermal filler injections, non-ablative laser facial resurfacing, or pulsed-dye laser therapy and 60 minutes prior to procedures such as laser-assisted tattoo removal.

Following the application period, the pliable layer is easily removed from the skin allowing the procedure to be performed with minimal to no pain. In clinical studies, the mean duration of anesthesia has been shown to be in the range of 7 to 9 hours after the application of Pliaglis. Pliaglis is currently approved in over 25 different countries and sold by commercial partners in various countries.

Spotlight

Merck Uses Qlik for Deep Insights into Clinical Trials That Improve Lives Around the World

Merck & Co, known as MSD outside of the United States and Canada, is a global pharmaceutical company whose mission is to discover, develop and provide innovative products and services that save and improve lives around the world.

More featured news

Spotlight

Merck Uses Qlik for Deep Insights into Clinical Trials That Improve Lives Around the World

Related News

PHARMACY MARKET

Exscientia Highlights "The Future of AI-enabled Drug Discovery" at SLAS Europe

Businesswire | May 23, 2023

Exscientia plc announced two abstracts for oral and poster presentation, as well as the closing keynote to be delivered at the Society for Laboratory Automation and Screening (SLAS) Europe Conference and Exhibition being held May 22-26, 2023, in Brussels, Belgium. These presentations highlight Exscientia’s recent advancements in technology, including the development of computer-aided biology (CAB) approaches, encompassing design of experiments (DoE) and automation for biochemical assay optimisation. The SLAS Conference is Europe’s premiere venue for industry, government and academic researchers, developers and providers of laboratory automation technology innovation. “At Exscientia, our mission is to encode and automate drug discovery. We believe that within this decade the design of all new drug candidates will be augmented with AI. I am delighted to showcase at SLAS Europe how our recent technology advances enable and drive our projects,” said Dr Garry Pairaudeau, Chief Technology Officer at Exscientia. Integrating laboratory automation of synthesis and screening with its AI-driven computational design platform is the logical next step for the company. “This will facilitate the next transformation in speed and productivity, as we aim to bring better medicines to patients faster. We’re looking forward to opening our purpose-built automation studio in Oxfordshire, U.K., later in 2023.” The company’s presentation at SLAS will demonstrate how far along Exscientia is in automating the drug discovery processes. “We believe automation has the potential to radically improve the timely creation of high-quality drug candidates, so that future patients may benefit from innovative science faster,” Pairaudeau stated. Closing Keynote Presentation Title: The future of AI-enabled drug discovery Room/Location: Plenary Theater Date/Time: Thursday, May 25 / 16:30 – 17:30 PM CET This presentation will highlight Exscientia’s distinct approach to molecular design, using an end-to-end patient centric, AI-enabled platform, which has led the way in the precision design of AI-generated molecules resulting in the first AI-designed compounds to enter clinical trials. To reach Exscientia's goal of fully encoding and automating drug discovery, the company is assembling an automated physical laboratory alongside its suite of sophisticated computational design tools, methods and scalable engineering platform. This presentation will highlight Exscientia's current progress in the automation field and the critical steps needed in the implementation of automated, digital laboratories. Abstracts Accepted for Presentation Oral Presentation Title: Computer-aided biology: DoE solutions Track: Frontiers in Technology Room/Location: 231 Date/Time: Thursday, May 25 / 15:30 – 16:00 PM CET Exscientia is building an automated ecosystem of chemistry, biology and compound management, including developing a pipeline of fully automated biochemical assays from assay development onwards. This presentation highlights how CAB has been leveraged to achieve this pipeline, combining DoE (a statistical methodology) with automation to rapidly determine optimum conditions to run assays efficiently through analysis of multi-factorial experimental results. Utilising CAB also allows Exscientia to increase capacity and efficiency across FTEs, time and reagents required to run assays, increase assay robustness and investigate areas of biology not normally studied. Poster Title: Improving assay optimisation and pharmacological sensitivity of a nuclease by employing a computer-aided biology approach Session/Track: Session A; Frontiers in Technology Abstract Number: 1034-A Date/Time: Wednesday, May 24 / 13:30 – 14:30 PM Exscientia researchers demonstrated the practical use of CAB to simultaneously improve an assay’s performance and reduce the reagent requirement, cost and labour for assay development. This presentation highlights the application of CAB to optimise the buffer of a nuclease assay, resulting in a 15-fold enhanced assay signal in low salt buffer conditions, alongside over a three-fold decrease in protein requirement and reduced assay development cycle times. The low salt requirement is a previously unforeseen result from CAB use which would have not been predicted from the literature. This highlights the potential for technology to improve assay performance in ways a human alone would not have been able to predict. About Exscientia Exscientia is an AI-driven precision medicine company committed to discovering, designing and developing the best possible drugs in the fastest and most effective manner. Exscientia developed the first-ever functional precision oncology platform to successfully guide treatment selection and improve patient outcomes in a prospective interventional clinical study, as well as to progress AI-designed small molecules into the clinical setting. Our internal pipeline is focused on leveraging our precision medicine platform in oncology, while our partnered pipeline broadens our approach to other therapeutic areas. By pioneering a new approach to medicine creation, we believe the best ideas of science can rapidly become the best medicines for patients.

BUSINESS INSIGHTS, PHARMACY MARKET

COEUS Holdings Announces Rebranding to Reflect the Unification of Each Business Unit Into One Entity

Businesswire | May 02, 2023

COEUS, a leading healthcare communications, technology, talent, and consulting firm delivering a variety of services and platforms to all stakeholders in the healthcare ecosystem, announced today that it has completed a major rebranding. Following nearly 14 years of both organic growth and acquisitions, all business units have been combined to form one entity: COEUS. Since the company’s inception in 2009, the company sought to build a suite of services capable of providing end-to-end solutions for drug and therapy manufacturers ranging from preapproval, through launch, and eventual loss of exclusivity. “A little over 13 years ago, we started this company with just one employee. After a series of acquisitions, the hiring of more than 140 people, and the creation of numerous distinct business units all coming online at different times, we felt it was a necessary part of our evolution to consolidate the business units to one entity capable of servicing all clients,” stated Marc Hixson, CEO, COEUS. “Our clients have routinely told us that our experts, our strategic vision of what healthcare should be, and our commitment to leveraging — and building — technologies that improve the biotech, pharmaceutical, and payer audiences truly sets COEUS apart. It’s time to let the rest of the industry in on it.” Through the rebranding, the company has redesigned its logo, launched an entirely new website and reinvented all its marketing collateral to reflect the company’s new identity. As part of the consolidation, COEUS has appointed Jodie McVan to the position of Chief Commercial Officer. In her new role, Jodie will oversee the day-to-day operations, staffing, and the management of existing offerings, as well as drive the creation of new services and products for the consulting and agency business. “With the combination of end-to-end service offerings for manufacturers, our technology platforms and services for manufacturers and payers alike, and industry leading talent and deep subject matter expertise, COEUS is well-positioned to efficiently deliver world-class service to our clients,” stated Jodie McVan, Chief Commercial Officer, COEUS. Visit 1COEUS.com to explore the new website and brand. About COEUS Established in 2009, COEUS is a leading healthcare consulting, communications, technology, and talent firm. The company offers clients a variety of services, as well as SaaS technology platforms, for various stakeholders throughout the healthcare ecosystem including all payers and emerging or more established drug manufacturers. Leveraging the deep knowledge and experience of the company’s many subject matter experts, COEUS works on all drug types with a particular focus on cell and gene therapies, rare diseases, and oncology. The company also has unique expertise in the creation and management of value-based agreements by leveraging COEBRA™, the company’s evidence and outcomes adjudication platform. In its 13-year history, the company has supported the launch of more than 120 pharmaceutical brands and has worked with more than 300 pharma clients including many top global pharmaceutical manufacturers.

PHARMA TECH

Ginkgo Bioworks and Centrient Pharmaceutical Announce Expansion of Partnership Following Success of initial Project to Bring Innovation to Generic API

PR Newswire | May 26, 2023

Centrient Pharmaceuticals ("Centrient"), the global business-to-business leader in sustainable antibiotics, next-generation statins and anti-fungals, and Ginkgo Bioworks (NYSE: DNA), which is building the leading platform for cell programming and biosecurity, today announced they are expanding their existing partnership aimed at broadening Centrient's portfolio of environmentally friendly active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs), following the success of previous work together. Ginkgo's ongoing partnership with Centrient focuses on improving the sustainability of fermentation and enzymatic syntheses of beta-lactam antibiotic APIs. In the first phase of this project, Ginkgo delivered an enzyme with significantly improved efficiency, reducing the environmental footprint of enzymatic production of amoxicillin and cephalexin APIs. These semi-synthetic beta-lactam antibiotics are widely prescribed to both children and adults and are on the World Health Organization's List of Essential Medicines. Centrient aims to build on these improvements through ongoing strain projects on Ginkgo's platform which focus on reducing carbon emissions and waste production compared to traditional chemical routes. "Our partnership with Ginkgo is fully aligned with our main purpose: to improve lives through innovative and sustainable manufacturing of medicines," said Jorge Gil-Martinez, Chief Scientific Officer at Centrient. "The initial success of this collaboration has led us to expand our joint efforts to design new ways of producing essential medicines, minimizing the environmental impact of antibiotic manufacturing. Moreover, as we design and execute our Open Innovation business model, this strategic collaboration creates synergies to accelerate the diversification of our portfolio, a strategic pillar for the future of our company. Access to external disruptive technologies, focusing on enzymes and fermentation, contributes to our vision to be a diversified and integrated partner of choice for generic medicines." "Our partnership with Centrient, which began in 2021, underscores Ginkgo's commitment to supporting biopharma companies in bringing much-needed innovation to the field," said Kevin Madden, SVP of Platform Commercialization at Ginkgo Bioworks. "We are inspired by the early success we've already seen in our partnership and look forward to expanding our joint efforts to ultimately support better patient outcomes." About Centrient Pharmaceuticals Centrient Pharmaceuticals is the global business-to-business leader in sustainable, enzymatic antibiotics, next-generation statins, and anti-fungals. We are a pharmaceutical company with a clear Purpose: to improve lives through innovative and sustainable manufacturing of medicines - saving the lives of millions of people around the world annually. Regarding our portfolio, we produce and sell intermediates and active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs), as well as finished dosage forms (FDFs). Our world-leading proprietary enzymatic technology PureActives® ensures an unmatched eco-friendly production process for our high-quality products. Driven by our Purpose and Sustainability through our ESG vision, we aim to create value for Centrient and our stakeholders. Centrient is a Board Member of the AMR Industry Alliance and a long-time advocate for industry responsibility in manufacturing. Founded 150 years ago as the 'Nederlandsche Gist- en Spiritusfabriek', our company was known as Gist Brocades and more recently DSM Sinochem Pharmaceuticals. Headquartered in Rotterdam (Netherlands), we have production facilities and sales offices in China, India, the Netherlands, Spain, the United States and Mexico. Centrient Pharmaceuticals is owned by Bain Capital Private Equity, a leading global private investment firm. About Ginkgo Bioworks Ginkgo Bioworks is the leading horizontal platform for cell programming, providing flexible, end-to-end services that solve challenges for organizations across diverse markets, from food and agriculture to pharmaceuticals to industrial and specialty chemicals. Ginkgo's biosecurity and public health unit, Concentric by Ginkgo, is building global infrastructure for biosecurity to empower governments, communities, and public health leaders to prevent, detect and respond to a wide variety of biological threats.