Peninsula Pharmaceuticals Inc and Takeda Chemical Industries Ltd have reached a licensing agreement for TAK-599, a broad-spectrum antibiotic currently being readied for clinical trials. Peninsula has obtained exclusive rights, including sublicense rights, to develop and market TAK-599 in all territories outside Japan; Takeda will manufacture the product for worldwide distribution. Financial terms of the agreement were not disclosed.
TAK-599 is the newest member of the broad spectrum cephalosporin class of antibacterials and displays excellent activity against Gram-positive and Gram-negative pathogens including Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), Vancomycin Intermediate staphylococcus aureus, Linezolid-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, penicillin-resistant Streptococcus pneumoniae (PRSP) and Haemophilus influenzae. Current preclinical data support its development as a therapeutic agent for a number of serious bacterial infections. Peninsula plans to begin clinic study as soon as possible and will announce the first steps of the clinical plan in January of 2004.
"The agreement with Takeda reinforces our strategy of seeking the highest quality antibiotic products and developing them for worldwide markets," said Paul F. Truex, Chief Executive Officer and President, Peninsula Pharmaceuticals. "Takeda is one of the leading pharmaceutical companies in the world and we are pleased that they share our confidence in the Peninsula team to develop and market TAK-599 outside of Japan."
Domain Associates LLC, a life sciences venture capital management firm, identified TAK-599 in 2002 as part of its extensive business development efforts in Japan to find high quality drug product assets and support their development for the US and European markets. "Given Peninsula's development success with its other in-licensed products, it was only natural to combine efforts to ensure the best development and value creation for TAK-599," stated Eckard Weber, Venture Partner at Domain Associates and a member of Peninsula's Board of Directors.
The worldwide hospital antibacterial market exceeds $8 billion annually and the worldwide market for cephalosporins exceeds $2 billion annually.