Spectrum and Nippon Kayaku in deal for apaziquone in Asian territories worth as much as $151 million

The USA's Spectrum Pharmaceuticals and Japan's Nippon Kayaku have signed an exclusive collaboration for the development and commercialization of apaziquone in Asia. Apaziquone is an antineoplastic agent currently being investigated for the treatment of non-muscle invasive bladder cancer by intravesical instillation.

Under the terms of the deal, Nippon Kayaku will pay Spectrum an upfront payment of $15 million and will make additional payments of up to $136 million based on the achievement of certain regulatory and commercialization milestones. Nippon Kayaku received exclusive rights to apaziquone for the treatment of non-muscle invasive bladder cancer in Asia, including Japan and China, and will conduct the apaziquone clinical trials pursuant to a development plan. The Japanese firm will be responsible for all expenses relating to the development and commercialization of apaziquone in the Nippon Kayaku territory.

Spectrum has previously entered into a strategic collaboration with Allergan, for North America, Europe, and other key markets. These two collaborations are representative of the company's stated objective of achieving solid strategic partnerships that are aimed at fully exploiting developmental goals for apaziquone on a worldwide basis, says Spectrum.

'Apaziquone is an ideal candidate to complement our portfolio of 24 anti-cancer products,' said Akira Mandai, head of Pharmaceuticals Group of Nippon Kayaku. 'We look forward to working with Spectrum in developing apaziquone for non-muscle invasive bladder cancer,' he added.

Spectrum is currently conducting two Phase III clinical trials to investigate apaziquone's safety and efficacy in non-muscle invasive bladder cancer. The firm's goal is to complete enrollment in both Phase III studies by year-end 2009.