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news.American BioScience has licensed Japanese rights to its anticancer drug Abraxane to Taiho Pharmaceutical. The companies are to form a joint steering committee to oversee the development of Abraxane in Japan for the treatment of breast, lung, gastric, and other solid tumors.
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Under the terms of the license agreement, American BioScience will receive upfront and milestone payments in excess of $50 million, in addition to substantial royalties.
Abraxane for injectable suspension was approved by the FDA in January 2005 for the treatment of breast cancer after failure of combination chemotherapy for metastatic disease or relapse within six months of adjuvant chemotherapy.
A development program is underway for Abraxane to expand its indications to breast, lung, ovarian, head and neck, and melanoma cancer.
Annual taxane sales in Japan are growing with the Japanese market for chemotherapy agents being approximately $3 billion. Taiho, which is based in Tokyo, is part of Otsuka Pharmaceutical.
“We believe that the taxanes will continue to play an important role in cancer treatment, and Abraxane, with its convenient, safe and efficacious profile will provide improved therapy to cancer patients,” said Toru Usami, president of Taiho.