GenVec Inc and Fuso Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd announced a new, three-year $4.5 million funded research agreement. This follows the successful conclusion of a former collaboration, which ran from 1997 to 2002.
The new collaboration was established to identify a targeted cancer therapy product candidate designed to treat not only a primary tumor, but also cancer that has spread, or metastasized, to distant sites in the body. An ideal product candidate would have the potential to be administered in a simple and safe regional or systemic manner. The intended targeted cancer therapy is expected to incorporate the gene for tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-alpha), a potent anticancer protein, to cause the production of TNF-alpha at the site of disease. GenVec's lead cancer product candidate, TNFerade, which is in phase II testing in humans for pancreatic and esophageal cancers, is not subject to the collaboration with Fuso, and GenVec is free to develop and commercialize TNFerade alone, or in collaboration with others, throughout the world.
Under the terms of the agreement, GenVec has worldwide rights, excluding Japan, to develop and commercialize product candidates arising from the collaboration. Fuso has development and commercialization rights in Japan, and an option to commercialize in Korea and Taiwan.
In addition to the research funding, the agreement includes development milestone payments and royalties on commercial sales by Fuso of any products arising from the collaboration. Each party will be responsible for development and commercialization costs in its respective territories.
"We are enthusiastic about continuing our successful collaboration with GenVec to develop new drugs for the treatment of cancer," said Mikio Toda, President and Representative Director of Fuso. Toda continued, "We have been pleased with the progress during the past five years of our relationship with GenVec, which includes Fuso filing an IND with the Japanese Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare for a potential gene therapy product for the treatment of liver cancer. This new collaboration represents an important milestone in executing our strategic plan to pursue innovative therapies, and we are excited about the opportunity to continue our work with GenVec and to develop a new, targeted cancer therapy."
GenVec's targeting technology is based on its platform of adenoviral gene delivery capabilities, and is intended to allow product candidates to home to the site of disease. GenVec's current clinical-stage product candidates, Biobypass, TNFerade and AdPEDF, are localized to diseased tissue by direct injection.