Nabi announced the signing of two international distribution agreements for Nabi-HB [Hepatitis B Immune Globulin (Human)] with Biotech Medical Corporation of Malaysia and Innovative Biotech PTE LTD, a corporation of the Republic of Singapore.
Global expansion of Nabi-HB continues to be a key objective for Nabi Biopharmaceuticals, according to David Gury, chairman, president and chief executive officer. "Our agreements with Biotech Medical Corporation and Innovative Biotech represent significant progress toward achieving this important objective. Hepatitis B is a significant and growing global public health problem, and the continued international expansion of Nabi-HB sales and marketing efforts will help to address patients' unmet medical needs worldwide," said Gury.
Under the agreements, Biotech Medical Corporation and Innovative Biotech will import finished Nabi-HB manufactured in Nabi Biopharmaceuticals' Boca Raton, Florida, plant and will coordinate the regulatory approval process for registration of the product with the Malaysia and Republic of Singapore Ministries of Health, respectively. Once approved, Biotech Medical Corporation and Innovative Biotech will sell and distribute Nabi-HB within the Malaysia and Singapore markets. Biotech Medical Corporation and Innovative Biotech PTE LTD are leading distributors of pharmaceutical antibody-based products and diagnostics in Malaysia and the Republic of Singapore.
"Nabi-HB will play a significant role in helping to prevent the spread of hepatitis B virus (HBV) in Malaysia and Singapore," said Dr. John Khong Peck Wah, president and chief executive officer of Biotech Medical Corporation and executive chairman of Innovative Biotech PTE LTD. "We are very pleased to work with Nabi Biopharmaceuticals to provide immediate short-term protection against hepatitis B for at-risk patients."
Infection with hepatitis B virus (HBV) often leads to chronic disease. According to the World Health Organization, of the 2 billion people infected with hepatitis B, more than 350 million have chronic hepatitis B disease and approximately 78% of chronic HBV carriers are in Asia. HBV attacks the liver and can cause cirrhosis, liver cancer, liver failure and death. An estimated 1.25 million Americans are chronically infected with HBV, of whom 20 percent to 30 percent acquired their infections in childhood, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Nabi-HB is approved in the U.S. for prevention of HBV infection upon acute exposure. The drug is a sterile solution of human antibodies that is manufactured at Nabi Biopharmaceuticals' FDA-licensed manufacturing facility in Boca Raton, Florida.