BTG signs agreement with Novacea and KuDOS for AQ4N
BTG plc announced that it has signed an agreement with Novacea, Inc. and KuDOS Pharmaceuticals Ltd (KuDOS), a wholly owned subsidiary of AstraZeneca UK Ltd, regarding the anti-cancer pro-drug AQ4N.
Under the terms of the agreement, BTG will receive a signature fee and Novacea gains additional rights to AQ4N, so that it now has exclusive worldwide rights to develop and commercialise AQ4N. BTG is also entitled to future milestone and royalty payments. In 2002, BTG licensed AQ4N to KuDOS, which in 2003 licensed North American rights to AQ4N to Novacea.
According to BTG, AQ4N is a tumour-selective pro-drug with potential applicability to multiple tumour types, both in combination with a number of chemotherapeutic agents and as a monotherapy for haematological malignancies. AQ4N is an inert, oxidised derivative of AQ4, a well-characterised Topoisomerase II inhibitor which exhibits potent cytotoxicity comparable to other marketed Topoisomerase II inhibitors such as Novantrone(r) (mitoxantrone) and Adriamycin(r) (doxorubicin).
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