Pharmacy Market
Globenewswire | July 20, 2023
Catalyst Pharmaceuticals, Inc. announced the completion of its acquisition from Santhera Pharmaceuticals Holdings of an exclusive license for North America for vamorolone, a potential treatment for patients suffering with Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy. The license is for exclusive commercial rights in the U.S., Canada, and Mexico, as well as the right of first negotiation in Europe and Japan should Santhera pursue partnership opportunities. Additionally, Catalyst will hold North American rights for any future approved indications of vamorolone.
Vamorolone is a promising best-in-class dissociative anti-inflammatory steroid treatment for Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy ("DMD"). In clinical studies, vamorolone demonstrated efficacy with a significant reduction of steroid-associated side effects and benefits for bone health, growth, and behavior, offering the potential to address an important unmet medical need in DMD patients. Vamorolone has received FDA Orphan Drug and Fast Track designations and has been granted a PDUFA action date of October 26, 2023.
"With the addition of vamorolone, we have accomplished another important milestone in the execution of our portfolio expansion strategy," stated Patrick J. McEnany, Chairman and CEO of Catalyst. "The license for vamorolone reflects our strategic focus on opportunities where we can not only apply novel technology to address critical unmet patient needs, but where we can leverage Catalyst's existing integrated capabilities and infrastructure to commercialize the drug efficiently. We believe that vamorolone, if approved, has the potential to deliver significant near and long-term value and to be a very meaningful advancement to the current standard of care paradigm for DMD patients."
Mr. McEnany continued, "Vamorolone fortifies our neuromuscular portfolio with an innovative therapy that, in clinical studies, demonstrated an enhanced safety and tolerability profile as compared to prednisone. We plan to include vamorolone for DMD patients in our Catalyst Pathways® specialty pharmacy program to help ensure that all patients have access to the full patient benefits of the program. Our planned strategy to facilitate access to vamorolone underscores our steadfast commitment to improving the lives of patients suffering from rare neurological conditions."
Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy, or DMD, the most common form of muscular dystrophy, is a rare, fatal neuromuscular disorder characterized by progressive muscular dysfunction, leading to loss of ambulation, respiratory failure, and death. Corticosteroids are the current standard of care for treating DMD; however, this treatment is associated with significant side effect burdens. The U.S. prevalence for DMD is estimated to be between 11,000 and 13,000 patients. Of patients currently being treated for DMD, approximately 75% receive concomitant steroid treatment.
Vamorolone Commercial Operational Plan
Catalyst expects to launch vamorolone early in the first quarter of 2024, assuming regulatory approval on the PDUFA date of October 26, 2023. Catalyst anticipates minimal sales and marketing personnel expansion with fewer than 10 additional team members required, resulting from the exceptional synergy within its existing neuromuscular franchise. Catalyst plans to incorporate vamorolone for DMD into its Catalyst Pathways® specialty pharmacy program to ensure that patients have access to full patient benefits.
About Vamorolone
Vamorolone is an investigational drug candidate with a mode of action based on binding to the same receptor as glucocorticoids but modifying its downstream activity and as such, is considered a dissociative anti-inflammatory steroid drug [2-5]. This mechanism has shown the potential to 'dissociate' efficacy from steroid safety concerns, and therefore vamorolone could emerge as an alternative to existing corticosteroids, the current standard of care in children, adolescent, and adult patients with DMD. In the pivotal VISION-DMD study, vamorolone met the primary endpoint Time to Stand (TTSTAND) velocity versus placebo (p=0.002) at 24 weeks of treatment and showed a good safety and tolerability profile [1]. The most commonly reported adverse events versus placebo from the VISION-DMD study were cushingoid features, vomiting, and vitamin D deficiency. Adverse events were generally of mild to moderate severity.
Vamorolone has been granted Orphan Drug status for DMD in the U.S. and Europe and has received Fast Track and Rare Pediatric Disease designations by the U.S. FDA and Promising Innovative Medicine (PIM) status from the UK MHRA for DMD. Vamorolone is an investigational medicine and is currently not approved for use by any health authority.
About Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy
Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy ("DMD") is a rare inherited X-chromosome-linked disease, which almost exclusively affects males. DMD is characterized by muscle inflammation and damage which are present at birth or shortly thereafter. Inflammation leads to fibrosis of muscle and is clinically manifested by progressive muscle degeneration and weakness. Major milestones in the disease are the loss of ambulation, the loss of self-feeding, the start of assisted ventilation, and the development of cardiomyopathy. DMD reduces life expectancy to before the fourth decade due to respiratory and/or cardiac failure. Corticosteroids are the current standard of care for the treatment of DMD.
About Catalyst Pharmaceuticals
With exceptional patient focus, Catalyst is committed to developing and commercializing innovative first-in-class medicines that address rare neurological and epileptic diseases. Catalyst's U.S. commercial product portfolio consists of FIRDAPSE® (amifampridine) Tablets 10 mg, approved for the treatment of Lambert-Eaton myasthenic syndrome ("LEMS") for adults and children ages six to seventeen. In January 2023, Catalyst acquired the U.S. commercial rights of FYCOMPA® (perampanel) CIII, a prescription medicine approved in people with epilepsy aged four and older alone or with other medicines to treat partial-onset seizures with or without secondarily generalized seizures, and with other medicines to treat primary generalized tonic-clonic seizures for people with epilepsy aged 12 and older. Further, Canada's national healthcare regulatory agency, Health Canada, has approved the use of FIRDAPSE for the treatment of adult patients in Canada with LEMS.
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Pharmacy Market
Businesswire | July 25, 2023
ImmunoGen, Inc. a leader in the expanding field of antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs) for the treatment of cancer, today announced a multi-target license and option agreement to research novel, first-in-class ADCs with ImmunoBiochem Corporation, a privately-held biopharmaceutical company focused on the discovery of unique tumor targets and development of novel biological therapeutics. The collaboration will combine ImmunoGen's proprietary linker-payload technology with ImmunoBiochem's antibodies directed against specific targets.
"We are excited to partner with ImmunoBiochem, which brings a novel approach to tumor targeting for ADCs," said Eric Westin, ImmunoGen's Vice President of Clinical Development and Translational Sciences. "This agreement reflects our commitment to leverage our rich IP portfolio through strategic partnering in order to further reinvigorate our research and development in support of our pipeline."
Under the terms of the agreement, ImmunoBiochem will receive an upfront payment in exchange for providing ImmunoGen with an exclusive license to existing antibodies directed against a specific undisclosed target. ImmunoBiochem will be eligible to receive milestone payments and royalties based on the achievement of pre-specified development, regulatory, and commercial milestones. ImmunoGen will collaborate with ImmunoBiochem on preclinical activities and assume responsibility for the program's future clinical development and commercialization activities. ImmunoGen will also have the option to select additional targets and antibodies to license based on certain preclinical work undertaken by ImmunoBiochem. If ImmunoGen chooses to exercise this option, ImmunoBiochem will receive an option exercise payment and ImmunoGen will assume responsibility for all subsequent R&D associated with that program.
"ImmunoBiochem is extremely pleased that ImmunoGen, one of the world's leading ADC companies, will help catalyze the unique science and assets that we have been developing to engender novel strategies to tackle difficult solid tumors, particularly for patients that lack common tumor targets," said Dr. Anton Neschadim, CEO of ImmunoBiochem. "This partnership validates our differentiated thinking and will enable ImmunoBiochem to significantly expand its discovery platform and innovative pipeline."
ABOUT IMMUNOGEN
ImmunoGen is developing the next generation of antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs) to improve outcomes for cancer patients. By generating targeted therapies with enhanced anti-tumor activity and favorable tolerability profiles, we aim to disrupt the progression of cancer and offer our patients more good days. We call this our commitment to TARGET A BETTER NOW™.
ABOUT IMMUNOBIOCHEM CORPORATION
ImmunoBiochem is an innovative biopharmaceutical company on a mission to develop novel biological therapeutics to address significant unmet need in oncology and immuno-oncology. ImmunoBiochem uses a combination of high-throughput functional screens, bioinformatics and AI/ML to unravel unique biology in the tumor microenvironment, particularly in the cancer cell secretome, and to discover novel tumor targets that could be exploited with various targeted therapeutic modalities. ImmunoBiochem, a Johnson & Johnson Innovation JLABS alumnus, is headquartered in Toronto, at the heart of Canada's largest biomedical research hub, and has worked closely on some of its novel programs with the University of Toronto, Canada's top university and amongst the world's leading institutions in research and innovation.
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Pharma Tech
PRNewswire | July 24, 2023
PharmaKinnex (PK), an inside sales solution provider for the pharmaceutical industry, and Data360, a data and engagement solutions provider for healthcare marketers, today announced a strategic partnership to further enhance client reach and improve patient outcomes.
From rare disease to oncology and beyond, this unique partnership is designed to deliver increased profits to clients, enable more advanced and secure data analysis, and most importantly, connect patients with life-saving treatments. PharmaKinnex and Data360 are proud to be a part of this newest revolution in pharmaceuticals and medicine, deploying Fingerprint AI solutions.
"The strategic partnership aligns perfectly with our mission to bring unprecedented value to our clients," said Michael White, CEO of PharmaKinnex. "Data360's powerful solutions to identify, target, and engage individuals, while providing valuable analytics about those audiences, will extend our reach to more potential patients and prescribers, providing a sizable edge in the rare disease sector."
Integration of Data360's deep insights with PK's marketing expertise will improve PK's call plans, allowing PK to message to new audiences and reach prescribers ahead of the competition. The partnership positions PK as the only inside sales organization with access to such a high level of data, offering a unique and powerful industry advantage.
"We are eager to partner with PharmaKinnex and contribute our solutions that identify and engage relevant audiences throughout their digital life, and so improve the patient journey experience," said James Miller, president & CEO of Data360. "For this unique market offering, Data360 will identify health care professionals (HCPs) and patients searching online for rare diseases by activating our Fingerprint AI solution. By providing insights for timeliness, relevance, and intent behavior, Data360 will equip PK with valuable insights and reach to elevate its services to clients."
Data360's Fingerprint AI technology is sparking a revolution in healthcare marketing, fueling omnichannel programs with its ability to hyper-target both HCP and patient or caregiver audiences based on online behavior and in-market search criteria.
Data360's datasets, coupled with the Fingerprint AI solution, empower brand teams, healthcare marketers, clinical trial teams, and now PK to leverage audience intent. Its service achieves high-quality, segmented, and targeted leads for HCP marketing, patient engagement, and clinical trial recruitment.
About PharmaKinnex
PharmaKinnex is the leading multichannel marketing company in the U.S. that exclusively serves Life Sciences clients. PK is also the longest-tenured independent company in its competitive set, with over 18 years of continuous support of its industry partners. The PK Call Center successfully executes high-ROI product detailing, inside sales and customer service programs. Each solution is designed with the support of the experienced, award-winning PK leadership team and is tailored to target every important constituency identified, including but not limited to office-based prescribers (physicians, NPs, PAs) across every specialty, hospitals and health systems.
About Data360
With the mission to turn data into intelligence, Data360 provides solutions and services to effectively identify, target, and engage audiences. We empower healthcare marketers seeking broader and better access to physicians, HCPs, patients, and caregivers. We deliver unequaled first-party data, proprietary technology (Fingerprint AI) for access to audience intent and behavior, and a focus on cost-effective and compliant ways to activate and engage healthcare audiences.
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