Diatos acquires full commercialization rights in Europe for DTS-201

31-Mar-2006

Diatos SA, announced that Medarex has granted full European commercialization rights for DTS-201 (a doxorubicin prodrug for targeted cancer therapy) to Diatos. In exchange for these rights, Diatos agreed to pay an upfront payment in cash and stock, milestone payments and royalties on future sales of DTS-201.

DTS-201 consists of doxorubicin (a marketed cytotoxic compound used in treating several cancer types) conjugated to a proprietary peptide technology discovered in 1996 by Pr André Trouet and his team at Université Catholique de Louvain (Belgium). DTS-201 is called Super-Leu-Dox (CPI-0004) in the USA. DTS-201 is a prodrug: it remains inactive while circulating in the bloodstream and healthy tissues and does not enter cells. In the vicinity of tumors, extracellular enzymes overexpressed and oversecreted specifically in the tumor environment cleave DTS-201 to yield an intermediate, L-Dox (leucyl doxorubicin), which is capable of penetrating cells. Once in the cell, intracellular peptidases release free doxorubicin which is then able to interact with its targets. The ability to target and deliver anti-cancer agents preferentially to tumors and limit their toxic effect on normal cells is expected to result in better clinical outcomes both in terms of improved response rates and lower toxicity. Diatos has initiated a Phase I clinical trial with DTS-201 in July 2005 in Europe (Belgium and France).

In April of 2003, Diatos licensed from Medarex certain European rights to develop and commercialize DTS-201. Since in-licensing the product in early preclinical development, Diatos has completed preclinical development and initiated in July 2005 an open label Phase I clinical study with DTS-201 involving three leading oncology clinical centers in Belgium and France. The main purpose of the current clinical trial is an assessment of its MTD (Maximum Tolerated Dose), safety profile and pharmacokinetics in patients with advanced or metastatic solid tumors.

https://www.bionity.com/en/news/53566/diatos-acquires-full-commercialization-rights-in-europe-for-dts-201.html