Biovitrum enters agreement with Karolinska Development

Leukemia project to be pursued in a jointly owned project company

19-Mar-2009 - Sweden

Biovitrum AB and Karolinska Development signed an agreement to establish a jointly owned project company. This company will receive all rights to further develop, market and sell Biovitrum's pharmaceutical project FLT3 against leukemia.

Karolinska Development will finance the project with a maximum of 10 million SEK up to a defined decision point. Thereafter, the new company will decide upon subsequent handling of the assets. The newly started company will be controlled with 80.1 percent owned by Karolinska Development. Biovitrum becomes minority owner with 19.9 percent ownership. According to the agreement, Biovitrum will receive future royalties on sales of pharmaceuticals developed based on the FLT3 project.

"The agreement means that our interesting low molecule project within leukemia can be further developed while Biovitrum can pursue its strategy to focus of future biopharmaceuticals", said Martin Nicklasson, CEO of Biovitrum. I am convinced that Karolinska Development will create the best of possibilities for the development of this project all the way to a new cancer drug for patients with high unmet medical needs," Nicklasson added.

The project is currently in preclinical phase. FLT3 is a so called tyrosine kinas, important for the normal development of blood cells and the immune system. With about one fourth of patients with the most common form of leukemia, acute myeloid leukemia (AML), one finds altered, spontaneously active FLT3. This observation is associated with a reduced survival prognosis. FLT3 is therefore considered as a promising target for pharmaceutical invention in AML. Biovitrum's scientists have developed and patented low molecular compounds that effectively and specifically inhibit the activity of FLT3.

https://www.bionity.com/en/news/98508/biovitrum-enters-agreement-with-karolinska-development.html