Servier is fattening up its oncology assests with the acquisition of Taiho Pharmaceutical’s treatment of refractory mestatic colorectal cancer. The French laboratories will commercialize the molecule in Europe and other countries.
Taiho Pharmaceutical and Servier come to an agreement for the development and commercialization of TAS-102 in Europe. The drug is an oral combination anticancer drug initially developed by Taiho Pharmaceutical for use in the treatment of refractory metastatic colorectal cancer.
The treatment was approved in Japan in 2014 and is currently being reviewed by Health Authorities in Europe and the United States. It consists of the combination of an antitumor agent, trifluridine, and a thymidine phosphorylase inhibitor, tipiracil hydrochloride. The antitumor agent induces DNA dysfunction through incorporation into DNA, which inhibits tumor growth. Alternatively, the phosphorylase inhibitor prevents degradation of the first compound, thereby allowing a more sustained inhibitory effect.
Under this agreement, Taiho Pharmaceutical will receive a total of €113,9M in an upfront payment. In addition, Taiho will receive further regulatory and sales event milestone payments and royalties based on net sales. Taiho and Servier will also collaborate on the further global development of TAS-102 sharing efforts and costs on an equal basis.
The compound may have effects on other chemiotherapy-resistant types of cancer. This fact has convinced the French pharma to ink this deal, that joins Servier’s increasing list of purchases. According to FierceBiotech, the pharma company hit nineteen collaborations since 2010! That’s three times more than the previous six years.