Print“The vaccine could also offer Astellas hope for backfilling revenue losses tied to flagging sales of Prograf, the company’s off-patent immunosuppressant for treating organ rejection. ”
Tokyo’s Astellas Pharma has reached a $35 million deal with Vical to develop and commercialize the San Diego company’s vaccine for cytomegalovirus, a common virus that can cause complications in transplant recipients.
The vaccine, TransVax, is designed to keep a lid on reactivation of cytomegalovirus, which can sicken transplant recipients struggling with weakened immune systems following their surgeries.
TransVax would complement the existing Astellas franchise in the transplant market, a strategic focus area for Astellas, says Vijay Samant, Vical’s president and CEO of Vical. The vaccine could also offer Astellas hope for backfilling revenue losses tied to flagging sales of Prograf, the company’s off-patent immunosuppressant for treating organ rejection.
The Vical deal calls for Astellas to take over all the costs and clinical development responsibilities for TransVax, laying out plans for a multinational late-stage registration trial of the vaccine in bone marrow transplant recipients as well as a mid-stage trial in solid organ transplant recipients in the first half of 2012.
Astellas will cover all further development and commercialization work and costs globally, while Vical retains an option to co-promote TransVax in the United States.
While Vical will receive near-term payments of $35 million—$25 million upon the effective date of the agreement and $10 million upon finalization of the late-stage trial design—the company could potentially garner up to $130 million in total upfront and milestone payments if TransVax make it to a commercial launch, plus double-digit royalties on net sales of the vaccine.
July 15, 2011
http://www.burrillreport.com/article-astellas_bets_35m_on_vical_vaccine.html
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