BioWa, Inc., Licenses Anti-FGF8 Antibody from Kyowa Hakko Kogyo Co, Ltd.

25-Oct-2005

BioWa announced that it has successfully licensed from Kyowa Hakko Kogyo Co, Ltd, its parent company, the exclusive worldwide rights except Asia to develop and commercialize Anti-Fibroblast Growth Factor 8 (FGF8) monoclonal antibody, a potential new treatment for breast, ovarian and prostate cancers.

Under the terms of the agreement, BioWa expects to develop and commercialize anti-FGF8 antibody, which is currently in pre-clinical development. In return, Kyowa Hakko Kogyo Co. has an option, to develop and commercialize the product in Asia and will be responsible for all development activities and costs. Under the terms of the agreement, BioWa retains all rights to anti-FGF8 antibody in non-Asia countries. Each party has the right to use pre-clinical and clinical data generated by the other party for developing anti-FGF8 antibody in their respective territories.

FGF8 has been implicated as a negative player for cancer. Originally discovered as an autocrine growth factor, FGF8 is over-expressed in prostate, breast and ovarian cancers and also correlates with Gleason scores in prostate cancer. Various cell and animal models support its role in oncogenesis and tumor cell survival. In addition, FGF8 has been shown experimentally to be a viable target for amelioration of symptoms in both rheumatoid arthritis (RA) models (collagen-induced) and osteoarthritis (OA) models (monosodium iodoacetate (MIA) - induced).

The worldwide market potential of this product in cancer is large. Prostate cancer, especially hormone-refractory disease (HRPC) is in great need of novel therapeutics. Although many of the cancer vaccines are targeting HRPC, improvements seen to date have been marginal. In advanced breast cancer, there still remains the need for additional survival benefits and for responses in more patients.

The worldwide market potential for this anti-FGF8 antibody is expected to gross over $400M worldwide peak sales.

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