Secura Bio, Inc. (SBI) – (www.securabio.com), an integrated biopharmaceutical company dedicated to the worldwide development and commercialization of impactful oncology therapies, today announced that it has agreed to purchase the global rights to Copiktra® (duvelisib) from Verastem, Inc. for all oncology indications.
Copiktra is an oral inhibitor of phosphoinositide 3-kinase (PI3K), and the first approved dual inhibitor of PI3K-delta and gamma involved in the signalling that leads to malignant B-cells proliferation and cancer.
Copiktra is indicated for the treatment of adult patients with relapsed or refractory chronic lymphocytic leukemia/small lymphocytic lymphoma (CLL/SLL) after at least two prior therapies and relapsed or refractory follicular lymphoma (FL) after at least two prior systemic therapies. Copiktra is also being developed for the treatment of peripheral T-cell lymphoma (PTCL), for which it has received Fast Track status and Orphan Drug Designation and is being investigated in combination with other agents through investigator-sponsored studies. A European Marketing Authorization Application for Copiktra was submitted in November 2019 to the European Medicines Agency (EMA) seeking approval for the treatment of patients with relapsed or refractory chronic lymphocytic leukemia/small lymphocytic lymphoma (CLL/SLL) and relapsed or refractory follicular lymphoma (FL).
Secura Bio will aggressively support the development of Copiktra in the treatment of T-cell lymphomas for which the PI3K inhibition-based mode of action is highly relevant, and explore new therapeutic opportunities for which the combination of PI3K and HDAC inhibitors may provide superior clinical outcomes.
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“We are excited to acquire the worldwide rights to Copiktra as the next step in our strategy to aggressively build a meaningful, worldwide oncology portfolio” said Joseph M. Limber, President and CEO of Secura Bio. “Copiktra is complimentary to SBI’s current therapeutics and provides a high value, high growth oncology opportunity for our company which was initiated with the acquisition of Farydak (panobinostat), a first-in class HDAC inhibitor. SBI now has two impactful oncology drugs with novel modes of action that provide the potential to build a very broad portfolio of indications in B-Cell and T-Cell lymphomas.”
The transaction will be partially financed with a $70 million debt financing led by Athyrium Capital Management, LP (www.athyrium.com), a leading healthcare focused investment firm, and the Secura Bio Executive Team. Jeffrey Ferrell, Managing Partner at Athyrium, stated, “We are very pleased with the growth of Farydak since our original investment. SBI management continues to execute on key strategic initiatives including portfolio development. We look forward to the next stages of building on our strong partnership with SBI as they expand their oncology franchise.”
Source: Biospace