PharmaMar has received the Award 'Supporting A Cure In Our Time' from the Sarcoma Foundation of America (SFA) for its 'support in the search for an effective cure for soft tissue sarcomas', goal of the foundation, during the congress of the Connective Tissue Oncology Society (CTOS) held in London from 13-15 November.
In the words of Matthew Alsante, executive director of the SFA, "It is with great pleasure that I present PharmaMar with a 'Supporting A Cure in our Time' Award. PharmaMar has been a leader in sarcoma research and treatment, a cancer population that is very undeserved. It is with great appreciation that the Sarcoma Foundation of America recognizes PharaMar for their innovative efforts to improve the care and lives of patients affected with sarcoma. With few new and effective treatments for sarcoma patients, the development of Yondelis as a treatment option has been an important breakthrough for sarcoma patients."
The mission of the Sarcoma Foundation of America (SFA) is to act as an advocate for greater research to find new and better therapies with which to treat patients with sarcoma. The SFA raises its own funds to provide research grants to researchers from sarcoma. The SFA also interacts with the public and private sectors and with non-profit organizations to raise awareness of the needs for treatment of patients with sarcoma.
PharmaMar commercializes Yondelis in the EU for the treatment of soft tissue sarcoma in adults, after failure of standard treatment. PharmaMar will start a phase-III multicenter study of Yondelis as first-line therapy in patients with tumour traslocation, Ewing's sarcoma, or not rhabdomyosarcomatose soft tissue sarcomas. Also, Yondelis is being studied in solid tumours with high incidence and prevalence in the population, such as prostate, breast and lung cancer.
Yondelis has been designated orphan drug for the treatment of soft tissue sarcomas and ovarian cancer in the European Union, United States, and Switzerland. The request for authorization to market Yondelis for the treatment of ovarian cancer is expected to be submitted to the EMEA in 2008. Yondelis is being developed by PharmaMar together with Johnson & Johnson Pharmaceutical Research & Development, LLC. According to the agreement between both parties PharmaMar will market Yondelis in Europe (including Eastern Europe), and Johnson & Johnson will market Yondelis in the US through its subsidiary Ortho Biotech Products, LP and Janssen-Cilag in the rest of the world.
PharmaMar is the world leader biopharmaceutical company of the Zeltia Group, committed to advancing the treatment of cancer through the discovery and development of new marine-derived medicines.