ZURICH and ZUG, Switzerland and STOCKHOLM, Sept. 04, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Oncopeptides AB (STO: ONCO), a biotech company focused on difficult-to-treat cancers, and Veld Pharmaceuticals GmbH (“Veld”) and Slavpharma GmbH (“Slavpharma”) today announced a collaboration to commercialize Oncopeptides’ flagship drug Pepaxti (melphalan flufenamide) in Africa and Eurasia.
Under the terms of this exclusive agreement, Veld and Slavpharma will distribute Pepaxti to patients in their respective regions for the treatment of patients with multiple myeloma. The parties have agreed on a revenue split on all Pepaxti sales in the region, with Veld and Slavpharma carrying all costs through their existing structure in the region. All sales will be made on a named patient basis, meaning doctors request supply of Pepaxti directly from the manufacturer, a method of sales similar to that being employed by Oncopeptides in Greece and MENA.
“I am excited to announce this expansion of the original MENA territories, now into Africa and Eurasia, with Oncopeptides,” says WODA Chairman Patrick Jordan. “Multiple Myeloma continues to be a difficult hematological disease that requires a host of therapies to fight back against the disease. In offering Pepaxti, a drug that is fully approved in the EU, to Health Care Providers beyond MENA and Europe , they will now have an important and complementing tool in the arsenal to help treat patients in need.”
“We continue to experience an unmet medical need and a demand for our drug also outside of Europe, and our partnership with Veld and Slavpharma allow us to expand the footprint of where in the world we are able to help patients,” says Sofia Heigis, CEO of Oncopeptides.
Oncopeptides uses its proprietary Peptide Drug Candidate platform (PDC) to develop compounds that rapidly and selectively deliver cytotoxic agents into cancer cells. Pepaxti is a medicine used to treat adults with multiple myeloma (a cancer of the bone marrow) when the cancer has not responded to previous treatments (refractory). It is used in combination with dexamethasone (an anti-inflammatory medicine) in adults who have received at least three prior therapies, including an immunomodulatory agent, a proteasome inhibitor and an anti‑CD38 antibody, and whose disease has worsened since the last treatment.
About Veld Pharma GmbH
Veld Pharma was founded to offer the African subcontinent for the opportunity to have access to medicines for rare diseases, oncology and highly specialized diseases. Veld’s combination of market access and medical affairs coupled with its steep history in Africa give it the right platform to allow African patients the chance to access therapies that would normally not be found locally.
About Slavpharma GmbH
Slavpharma is a Full Service distribution Swiss-based company specializing in the niche products, rare disease and oncology segments of the pharmaceutical market in Eurasia. With the aim to serve in the place of a local operation, Slavpharma performs all the services your products need to reach patients in need suffering from diseases that have limited solutions.
About WODA
The World Orphan Drug Alliance (WODA) is a global alliance of commercial distributors focused on providing access to treatments for rare diseases and specialty medicines in complex markets around the world. WODA aims to provide comprehensive support to pharmaceutical and biotech companies with rare disease, oncology, and highly specialized therapeutics portfolio, starting from Named Patient Programs through to full commercialization.
More about WODA: www.woda-alliance.com
About Oncopeptides
Oncopeptides is a biotech company focused on research, development, and commercialization of therapies for difficult-to-treat hematological diseases. The company uses its proprietary Peptide Drug Candidate platform (PDC) to develop compounds that rapidly and selectively deliver cytotoxic agents into cancer cells.
Pepaxti® (melphalan flufenamide, also called melflufen) has been granted Marketing Authorization, in the European Union, the EEA-countries Iceland, Lichtenstein and Norway, as well as in the UK. Pepaxti is indicated in combination with dexamethasone for the treatment of adult patients with multiple myeloma who have received at least three prior lines of therapies, whose disease is refractory to at least one proteasome inhibitor, one immunomodulatory agent, and one anti-CD38 monoclonal antibody, and who have demonstrated disease progression on or after the last therapy. For patients with a prior autologous stem cell transplantation, the time to progression should be at least 3 years from transplantation.
Oncopeptides is developing several new compounds based on its proprietary technology platforms and is listed on Nasdaq Stockholm with the ticker ONCO. For more information see: www.oncopeptides.com
Media contact for WODA
Tina Vojnovic, Head of Corporate Communication and PR
tina.vojnovic@woda-alliance.com, +386 41 744 735
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