Oncology Venture has signed a definitive agreement out-licensing two clinical pipeline assets, LiPlaCis and 2X-111, to Smerud Medical Research International for further clinical and commercial development.
Under the terms of the agreement, Oncology Venture (OV) will receive regulatory milestone fees of nearly US $30M plus royalties on sales for each drug payable to OV if all the milestones are met. OV also terminated its prior license agreement with Cadila Pharmaceuticals for the development of LiPlaCis in India.
Smerud Medical Research International is a European-based clinical contract research organization (CRO) with expertise in the development of precision cancer drugs. Smerud has previously worked with OV on its LiPlaCis program as well as several other clinical programs. Under their new agreement, Smerud will advance the specific development of LiPlaCis in late stage metastatic breast cancer and 2X-111 in glioblastoma multiforme, in connection with each program’s DRP companion diagnostic.
An important step
In September 2019, OV announced a significant restructuring, including a new executive management team and a prioritized focus on advancing its top three clinical-stage oncology programs towards approval and commercialization. The company has worked towards establishing partnerships to advance the portfolio while monetizing the value for the company as part of this ongoing effort, it states.
“Partnering with Smerud allows us to continue development of these two clinical therapeutics together with their DRP companion diagnostics, and to monetize our clinical assets for the benefit of our company and our shareholders. We remain enthusiastic about the therapeutic potential of both LiPlaCis and 2X-111 together with their DRP companion diagnostics, and we are very pleased to reach this important step towards value creation with these two portfolio assets, and, if all milestones are met, will bring us more than US $30M in regulatory milestone fees plus royalties on future drug sales. Furthermore, this provides us with the opportunity to focus on driving our most advanced programs towards commercialization,” says Steve Carchedi, CEO of Oncology Venture.
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