Guangzhou Xiangxue Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. (“Xiangxue”) has expandedits strategic partnership with Athenex, Inc. (Nasdaq: ATNX) to exclusively developand commercialize Athenex’s oncology product candidates Oral Paclitaxel (boththe capsule and the tablet formulations), Oral Irinotecan, as well as Tirbanibulin(KX2-391,also known as KX-01) Ointment, including for the treatment ofactinic keratosis (AK) in China.
Athenex, Inc. (Nasdaq: ATNX) is a global biopharmaceutical companydedicated to the discovery, development, and commercialization of noveltherapies for the treatment of cancer.
Under the terms of the license agreement, subject to thesatisfaction of certain conditions, Athenex will receive an upfront payment of$30 million. Athenex will also be eligible to receive development, sales andother milestone payments and tiered royalties ranging from the sub-teen to lowtwenties based on annual net sales of licensed products in the Territory and apercentage of sublicensing revenue. The total deal size is potentially $200million, excluding the royalty payments.
Mr.YongHui Wang, Chairman and CEO of Xiangxue, said, "We arethrilled about this strategic partnership extension with Athenex in China whichcomplements our successful collaboration on KX2-361 (also known as KX-02) forbrain tumors (including glioblastoma multiforme) and TCR-T immunotherapy. Ourcollaboration has been highly rewarding, and we have also witnessed Athenex’sstrong execution track record, in terms of research and development as well asbusiness expansion. The oral paclitaxel and encequidar data are extremelyexciting, with clear benefits on tumor response, improved survival and lessneuropathy. We believe the results pave the way for oral irinotecan to followits success. The promising tirbanibulin data have also shown significantclinical benefits to patients with AK in two randomized, controlled clinicalstudies. Our assessment is that there is compelling market potential for oralpaclitaxel and encequidar in China, and that tirbanibulin ointment will addressan underserved market in AK.”
“Thisextended strategic partnership, together with KX2-361, expands our novel drugportfolio into a strong pipeline consisting of two Phase 3 product candidateswith positive clinical trial results, one product candidate withproof-of-concept data that is ready to advance to Phase 2, and one Phase 1 productcandidate,” continued Mr. YongHui Wang. “We expect the partnership will enable usto lead these innovative therapies into commercialization and position us tofurther tap into one of the largest and most promising healthcare markets worldwide.We will be expanding our marketing and sales capacity to allow us to maximizethe potential of these exciting opportunities.”
Dr. Johnson Lau, ChiefExecutive Officer and Chairman of Athenex, stated, “We arepleased with the extension on the strategic partnership with Xiangxue, andtheir confidence in our clinical data. We believe this serves as an importantvalidation of our science and product portfolio. We have selected Xiangxue as our partnerbased on our long term productive collaboration, and because their commitmentto develop this portfolio is aligned with our global strategy. Xiangxue alsoplans to expand its marketing and sales infrastructure to focus on China tocapture the full potential of these products. We look forward to leading theglobal clinical development of these advanced clinical stage products with theultimate goals of serving patients and addressing the attractive marketopportunities that exist in China.”
About Athenex,Inc.
Founded in 2003, Athenex, Inc. is aglobal clinical stage biopharmaceutical company dedicated to becoming a leaderin the discovery, development and commercialization of next generation drugsfor the treatment of cancer. Athenex is organized around three platforms,including an Oncology Innovation Platform, a Commercial Platform and a GlobalSupply Chain Platform. The Company’s current clinical pipeline is derived fromfour different platform technologies: (1) Orascovery, based on non-absorbedP-glycoprotein inhibitor, (2) Src kinase inhibition, (3) T-cellreceptor-engineered T-cells (TCR-T), and (4) Arginine deprivation therapy.Athenex’s employees worldwide are dedicated to improving the lives of cancerpatients by creating more active and tolerable treatments. Athenex has offices in Buffalo and Clarence,New York; Cranford, New Jersey; Houston, Texas; Chicago, Illinois; Hong Kong;Taipei, Taiwan; multiple locations in Chongqing, China; Manchester, UK;Guatemala City, Guatemala and Buenos Aires, Argentina. For more information, pleasevisit www.athenex.com.