Sun Pharma inks licensing pact with Philogen for cancer medication

Sun Pharmaceutical Industries on Tuesday said it has inked a global licensing pact with Italian-Swiss firm Philogen for an anti-cancer drug.

As per the agreement, Sun Pharma will have the exclusive worldwide rights to commercialise Fibromun, a speciality product of Philogen.

Fibromun, an innovative anti-cancer immunotherapy, is being investigated in registration trials by Philogen for the treatment of soft tissue sarcoma and glioblastoma.

As per the pact, Philogen will complete the ongoing pivotal clinical trials for the product, pursue marketing authorisation with regulatory authorities, and manufacture commercial supplies, the Mumbai-based drug major said in a statement.

Sun Pharma will be responsible for commercialisation activities, it added.

The two partner companies will share post-commercialisation economics in about 45(Philogen):55(Sun Pharma) ratio, Sun Pharma said.

The company did not disclose other financial terms.  "Fibromun's progress through development has been quite encouraging and it has potential to be an important option for treatment of soft-tissue sarcomas and other cancers with significant unmet medical needs," Sun Pharma Chairman and MD Dilip Shanghvi said.

The partnership expands company's clinical pipeline into oncology in alignment with  current portfolio in skin cancers, he added.

"We keenly look forward to providing this treatment option globally in due course of time," Shanghvi stated.

Philogen CEO and CSO Dario Neri said the collaboration will focus on the global commercialisation of Fibromun, a new immunotherapy that has the potential to serve patients with soft tissue sarcoma and certain malignant forms of brain tumours (e.g., glioblastoma), for which limited therapeutic alternatives exist.

"Our group has published data reflecting the promising therapeutic activity of Fibromun in glioblastoma, inducing long-lasting anti-tumour responses in a subset of patients," he said.

Last year, the two companies announced an exclusive, distribution, license, and supply agreement for commercialising the specialty product Nidlegy in Europe, Australia and New Zealand.