Astellas acquires Japanese rights to Theravance antibiotic

The inclusion of Japan in the deal gives Astellas worldwide rights to this potential treatment for serious infections.

Under the extended licensing deal, US-based Theravance will receive an upfront payment of $10 million from Astellas and is eligible to receive a $5 million milestone payment for regulatory approval in Japan.

These payments are in addition to the $131 million in clinical and regulatory milestone payments that Theravance is currently eligible to receive related to non-Japanese milestone events.

Telavancin is a novel lipoglycopeptide injectable antibiotic discovered by Theravance that targets serious Gram-positive infections, including those caused by methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) strains.

Previously presented data demonstrated that telavancin has a multifunctional mechanism of action that the companies believe results in bacterial killing and may help reduce the risk of inducing resistance.

Telavancin is currently in phase III studies outside of Japan for the treatment of complicated skin and skin structure infections (cSSSI), for which patient enrollment has been completed, and hospital-acquired pneumonia (HAP). Phase I studies for Japanese registration are now in preparation to be started later this year.

“I am pleased that our existing relationship with Theravance has been expanded to include Japan, making our collaboration truly global. The addition of a unique product such as telavancin to our Japanese pipeline provides additional depth and commitment to the field of infectious disease,” commented Masafumi Nogimori, president and CEO of Astellas.