TaiGen and TTY Biopharm Jointly Develop and Commercialize a Novel Topoisomerase I Inhibitor DB67 for Cancer Treatment

21-Oct-2003

TAIPEI, Taiwan - TaiGen biotechnology Co., Ltd. and TTY Biopharm Co., Ltd. announced the signing of an agreement to jointly develop and market a novel topoisomerase I inhibitor, DB67, for cancer treatment.

DB67, the lead compound of a series of topoisomerase I inhibitors, was discovered and patented by the researchers at the University of Pittsburgh, USA. National Health Research Institutes (NHRI) of Taiwan, through funding from the Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA) and with an aim to help accelerate new drug development by the local pharmaceutical industry, has licensed the Asian rights (including Japan) of DB67 and assigned them to TTY for development and commercialization. DB67 has shown potent activities in various preclinical tumor models and, due to its physical property, has a great potential to treat brain malignancy. The current MOEA funding will cover almost all the cost before phase I clinical trials. MOEA could also fund up to 40% for phase I and II trials and up to 25% for phase III trials for selected drug candidates.

Under the terms of the agreement, TaiGen and TTY will be responsible for conducting studies based on each party's experience and expertise. TaiGen will be in areas of animal disease models, pharmacokinetics, drug metabolism and toxicology, and TTY in formulation, GMP production of dosage forms and organization of clinical trials. TaiGen and TTY have a plan in place to market the drug jointly in Asia. The financial terms of the agreement were not disclosed.

Dr. Ming-Chu Hsu, President & CEO of TaiGen, said, "We are very pleased to partner with TTY Biopharma, a leading Taiwanese pharmaceutical company, for the development and commercialization of DB67, a promising drug candidate with proven mechanism of action. TaiGen and TTY clearly have complementary strengths that can accelerate drug development. The GLP toxicology studies are underway and filing of IND is planned for 4Q 2004. This agreement endorses the value of our drug discovery and development capabilities and enriches our pipeline that currently consists of several candidates in preclinical development. We look forward to a fruitful collaboration with TTY".

https://www.bionity.com/en/news/30045/taigen-and-tty-biopharm-jointly-develop-and-commercialize-a-novel-topoisomerase-i-inhibitor-db67-for-cancer-treatment.html