The German intellectual property management and licensing specialist Ascenion GmbH has secured equity in Certus Pharmaceuticals of South San Francisco, California, following a licensing deal with the Max-Delbruck-Center, (MDC) Berlin.
Certus has two anti-cancer technologies under development that have the potential to solve the long-standing problem of targeting chemotherapy to treat liver cancer and other hard to target tumours.
The underlying platform technologies were developed at MDC and exclusively licensed to Certus through Ascenion, MDC´s technology transfer partner, in return for equity in Certus. Any proceeds from a future sale of these shares will be paid to the Life-Science Foundation for the Promotion of Science and Research, which will distribute the funds to appropriate public research projects in Germany.
The MDC platform technologies allow for improved delivery of well established anti-cancer drugs and their specific accumulation at the tumour site. As a result, cancer patients can be treated more effectively with fewer side effects. Based on nanoparticles that carry no electric charge, the MDC approach has a number of advantages over other delivery technologies, including high stability of the formulated drug, above-average accumulation of the active agent in tumour tissues, ease of production and the opportunity for oral as well as intravenous applications.
To date two products have been derived from the technologies, Embosphere for the treatment of liver cancer, and Taxosphere, a formulation of paclitaxel which extends the therapeutic window of Taxol by increasing the exposure time of the tumour more than 25 fold.
“The commercial potential is enormous. The Taxol and Taxotere market, for instance, generates sales in the range of a blockbuster product. An improved, orally available formulation should rapidly capture a significant portion [of the market]," said Christian Stein, CEO of Ascenion.
"We have carefully explored different routes of commercialisation and identified Certus as an ideal licensing partner for the MDC´s IP. With outstanding expertise in drug delivery and a strong track record in the biopharmaceutical industry, the team is perfectly set to transition the results of MDC research into drug development."
Certus has provided initial proof of concept for both drug candidates and has just initiated its first financing round.
"With promising data from a physician-sponsored trial and relevant animal models, we are confident of attracting a premier syndicate of life science investors," said Peter Scherrer, CSO of Certus.
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