Investigational therapy rights for Novartis

Novartis

Swiss-drug maker Novartis announced today, that it has gained exclusive rights to two oral targeted investigational therapies. The therapies, for patients with a range of life-threatening blood disorders and cancers, that currently do not have effective treatment options, will see the pharmaceutical giant take full responsibility for their future development.

According to reports from World Pharma News, under a new licensing agreement with Incyte Corporation, the Swiss firm will have responsibility for the future development of Incyte's investigational Janus kinase (JAK) inhibitor outside the US and for future development of an early-stage mesenchymal-epithelial transition factor kinase (cMET) inhibitor globally.

The terms of the agreement say that Novartis will make an upfront payment of $150 million (99.8 million euros) to Incyte and a first milestone payment of $60 million (39.9 million euros) for initiation of the European Phase III trial of the JAK inhibitor that began in July of this year. The agreement covers ex-US commercialization rights for the JAK inhibitor and global commercialization rights for the cMET inhibitor.

Compounds

The JAK inhibitor, the lead compound covered by the licensing agreement, is currently in Phase III clinical trials for the treatment of myelofibrosis, a life-threatening neoplastic condition with no effective medical treatment. The therapy currently has the investigational name INCB18424. It is hoped that INCB18424 will become a first-in-class therapeutic agent for the treatment of this and other hematologic diseases.

The second compound, the cMET inhibitor with the investigational name INCB28060, is now entering Phase I development. According to researchers, compounds in this class are envisioned to become effective cancer therapies through their ability to block molecular signals leading to tumor cell angiogenesis, proliferation, survival, invasion and metastasis.

Priority

According to David Epstein, President and CEO, Novartis Oncology and Novartis Molecular Diagnostics: "A key Novartis priority is to bring innovative medicines to patients as quickly as possible. This agreement leverages these two promising investigational drugs with Novartis Oncology's global development and commercialization expertise and our wide range of multi-targeted approaches to cancer treatment."

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