The biotech company MediGene AG has signed a license and supply agreement with Meditrina Pharmaceuticals for the supply and commercialization of Veregen in Greece and Cyprus.

Meditrina will promote and distribute Veregen for the treatment of genital warts in both territories. Upon the achievement of specific milestones, MediGene will be entitled to successive payments totaling up to 900 thousand euros, and will receive the first milestone payment upon the initiation of the approval procedure in Greece. In addition, MediGene will supply Meditrina with finished product and will receive double-digit royalties on net sales. MediGene believes that Greece is the sixth largest potential European market for Veregen sales volume.

MediGene has already entered into marketing partnerships for Veregen with Nycomed, Inc. for the USA, Solvay (acquired by Abbott on February 15, 2010) for Germany, Austria and Switzerland, Juste S.A.Q.F for Spain and Portugal and Teva Pharmaceuticals Industries Ltd. for Israel.

Veregen is already available and on the market in the USA and in Germany, and market launch in Austria is planned for the summer of 2010. A second wave of marketing applications within the European mutual recognition procedure is expected in the second half of 2010, with Germany serving as the Reference State in this process.

Veregen (previously Polyphenon E ointment) for the topical treatment of external genital warts is a concentrate of catechins with a complex defined composition extracted from green tea leaves. MediGene acquired the basic rights to the active ingredient in Veregen from the Canadian company Epitome Pharmaceuticals, Inc. in 1999, and was solely responsible for the drug’s preclinical and clinical development, as well as for the approval process. Moreover the patent protection was further upgraded by a number of proprietary inventions.

Meditrina is a privately held, growing pharma company, which was founded in 2005 and is focusing on in-licensing, marketing and sales of pharmaceutical products.