Ariad partners with Angelini on Iclusing in Central/Eastern Europe

US specialty pharma firm Ariad Pharmaceuticals (Nasdaq: ARIA) has granted Italian drugmaker Angelini exclusive rights to commercialize Iclusig (ponatinib), for the leukemia indications approved by the European Medicine Agency, in Central and Eastern Europe.

These countries include Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia. With this distributorship in place with Angelini’s CSC Pharmaceuticals subsidiary, Iclusig will be available to patients with resistant and intolerant Philadelphia-positive leukemias in more than 23 countries in Europe.

Under the terms of the agreement, Ariad will remain the marketing authorization holder of Iclusig, and will manage this distributorship out of its European headquarters in Lausanne, Switzerland. Angelini will be responsible for sales and marketing, medical affairs, regulatory and reimbursement support. Angelini will book sales of Iclusig while Ariad will supply packaged drug to Angelini.