RedHill Biopharma Buys Option For Orphan Pancreatic Drug

Israeli company RedHill Biopharma reported that it has entered into an exclusive agreement with Dresden-based biotech RESprotect for rights to its oncology drug candidate RP101 and next generation compounds.

RP101 is a first-in-class heat shock protein 27 (Hsp27) inhibitor orally administered for the prevention of chemoresistance. Hsp27 is a chaperone protein found in abnormally high levels in cancer cells. Through its inhibition of Hsp28, the drug may help keep tumors sensitive to treatment so they can no longer avoid resistance to chemotherapy, thus improving patients’ survival. The investigational drug was awarded an orphan drug designation by the European Medicines Agency (EMA) in 2010 as adjunct treatment of pancreatic cancer.

As part of the agreement, RedHill gains the option to acquire global rights of the drug candidate for all indications except for pancreatic cancer in South Korea. RESprotect will receive payment for a one year option, which may be continued by RedHill according to the partners’ agreement. The one year option gives RedHill the right to conduct development programs with RP101 at will. If RedHill decides to exercise the option, it will purchase the exclusive rights to RP101 for a total payment of $100,000. In addition RedHill will also make potential milestone payments and tiered royalties on net revenues to RESprotect.

Dror Ben-Asher, RedHill's CEO, said, “Across several clinical studies, pancreatic cancer patients co-treated with RP101 and one or more chemotherapy agents were found to have longer overall survival than historical control pancreatic cancer patients treated with chemotherapy alone. In a randomized, placebo-controlled Phase II pancreatic cancer study, median overall survival was longer in patients receiving chemotherapy plus RP101 than in those receiving chemotherapy plus placebo in a subset of patients with high body surface area in the U.S…We are looking forward to exploring further development of RP101 with our new partners at RESprotect.”

Mr. Ben-Asher continued to say that there are several open government and R&D grants, which they could pursue for target diseases. He also said that a regulatory designation for an expedited program for RP101 is possible.

Prof. Rudolf Fahrig, RESprotect's CEO, said, “We are delighted to sign this option agreement with RedHill Biopharma and look forward to working with our new partners at RedHill on the development of RP101.”