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news.Protox Therapeutics has agreed to acquire a worldwide license that will allow the company to commercialize the drug PORxin, for the treatment of non-small cell lung cancer. The company will now commence a preliminary study into the effects of the drug in this indication.
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In exchange for the license it has obtained, the company will pay an upfront fee as well as milestone and royalty payments to the US National Research Council Institute for Biological Sciences, and the University of Victoria Innovation and Development Corporation.
“The licence enables us to develop a proprietary antibody targeted toxin for non-small cell lung cancer, a disease for which existing therapeutics have made little significant impact on overall survival. Together with our lead product for prostate cancer, PORxin 302 (formerly known as PSA-PAH1), we are exploiting the PORxin platform to create products to treat two of the most common cancer indications”, said Dr Fahar Merchant, president and CEO of the company.
The preliminary study that the company is now initiating into the drug has received a financial contribution of up to $340,000 from the National Research Council Industrial Research Assistance Program.
In the US alone more than 173,000 new cases of lung cancer were diagnosed in 2004 and approximately 164,000 men and women died of this condition. It has the highest mortality rate of any of the cancers and its incidence in women is increasing.