SOBI to distribute Exelixis' cancer drug Cometriq in EU

US biotech firm Exelixis (Nasdaq: EXEL) has entered into a three-year with Swedish Orphan Biovitrum (STO: SOBI) to support the distribution and commercialization of Cometriq (cabozantinib) for metastatic medullary thyroid cancer (MTC) in the European Union and potentially other countries.

No other indication is covered by this agreement, and Exelixis maintains full commercial rights for Cometriq in MTC outside the covered territory and for all other indications on a global basis. On November 29, 2012, Exelixis announced that the European Medicines Agency had accepted the drug’s Marketing Authorization Application for the proposed indication of treatment of progressive, unresectable, locally advanced, or metastatic MTC. It was approved in the USA last year (The Pharma Letter November 30, 2012).

In addition to Exelixis' Cometriq for advanced (MTC), the other emerging agents in the thyroid carcinoma space are Bayer HealthCare/Onyx Pharmaceuticals' Nexavar (sorafenib), Eisai's lenvatinib, Genentech/Roche's Zelboraf (vemurafenib), GlaxoSmithKline's combination of dabrafenib and trametinib and OXiGENE's Zybrestat (fosbretabulin).