Porton Biopharma Limited (PBL), the UK biopharmaceutical research, development and manufacturing company, announces that it has signed an exclusive, worldwide licensing agreement with Clinigen for the distribution of Erwinase®/ Erwinaze®, the company’s life-saving treatment for acute lymphoblastic leukaemia, a cancer of the blood predominantly affecting children.

Clinigen is a UK-based healthcare business with an international distribution network, a focus on cancer and a particular ability to match products and patients. This new relationship with Clinigen offers significant long-term financial and commercial benefits for PBL, enabling the Company to grow and further the supply of Erwinase. PBL will receive future sales-based milestone payments, alongside tiered royalty payments based upon worldwide net sales. The agreement represents an attractive return for PBL and its sole shareholder, the UK Government’s Department of Health and Social Care.

The new contract with Clinigen will begin on January 1st 2021. The current distributor of Erwinase, Jazz Pharmaceuticals PLC, will continue to distribute product to ensure continuity of supply for patients during a transition period.

PBL Commercial Director Soren Demin said: “We are delighted to be working with Clinigen in the future with the signing of this exclusive licensing agreement for the worldwide distribution of Erwinase, our life-saving treatment for acute lymphoblastic leukaemia, to meet the growing demand for the product worldwide and to explore new indications.”

PBL Managing Director Roger Hinton said: “The agreement with Clinigen follows a major investment of more than £50 million during the past three years in PBL’s manufacturing facilities. The investment included a new fermentation facility, which was opened in 2018 and has added considerable manufacturing capacity to meet future demand for Erwinase, which had sales of $177 million in 2019. PBL is now ideally placed to further grow the business and build on our pipeline of lifesaving and protecting biopharmaceutical products.”