Oncopeptides, a biotech company focused on difficult-to-treat cancers, and Vector Pharma today announced a collaboration to commercialise Oncopeptides’ flagship drug Pepaxti (melphalan flufenamide) in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) for the treatment of patients with multiple myeloma.
Countries who will receive Pepaxti include Saudi Arabia, Qatar, UAE, Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Algeria, Tunisia, Morocco, Libya, Lebanon and Iraq.
The two parties have agreed on a revenue split on all Pepaxti sales in the region, with Vector carrying all costs through their existing structure in the region.
All sales will be made on a named patient basis, meaning doctors request supply of Pepaxti directly from the manufacturer — a method of sales similar to that being employed by Oncopeptides in Greece.
“I am excited to announce this regional agreement with Oncopeptides,” says Vector Pharma FZCO Managing Partner Patrick Jordan. “Multiple Myeloma continues to be a difficult hematological disease to treat, requiring a host of therapies to see efficacy. In offering Pepaxti, a drug that is fully approved in the EU, to Health Care Providers in the MENA region, they will now have an important and complementing tool in the arsenal to help treat patients in need.”
Vector is a leading distributor of drugs against rare diseases in the MENA region, and also a founding member of the World Orphan Drug Allience, WODA, providing services required for commercialisation of orphan drugs in 152 countries on 6 continents.
Pepaxti is a medicine used to treat adults with multiple myeloma when the cancer has not responded to previous treatments
“Providing Pepaxti to patients also outside of Europe is an important value driver for Oncopeptides, and our partnership with Vector, being a member of the World Orphan Drug Alliance, is an important step forward that we believe has the potential to create additional value for both patients and our shareholders,” says Sofia Heigis, CEO of Oncopeptides.
“We are happy for our partnership with Vector and look forward to working together as we enter this promising region together. Through their alliance with WODA, this partnership also has the potential to unlock additional geographies in the future, something which is currently under discussion.”
Oncopeptides uses its proprietary Peptide Drug Candidate platform (PDC) to develop compounds that rapidly and selectively deliver cytotoxic agents into cancer cells.
Pepaxti is a medicine used to treat adults with multiple myeloma (a cancer of the bone marrow) when the cancer has not responded to previous treatments (refractory).
It’s used in combination with dexamethasone (an anti-inflammatory medicine) in adults who have received at least three prior therapies, including an immunomodulatory agent, a proteasome inhibitor and an anti‑CD38 antibody, and whose disease has worsened since the last treatment.