Sun Pharma Seals Global Licensing Deal for Anti-Cancer Drug Fibromun

Sun Pharmaceutical Industries has inked a global licensing pact with Philogen for the anti-cancer drug Fibromun. The agreement grants Sun Pharma exclusive rights to commercialize the drug, which is undergoing pivotal clinical trials for soft tissue sarcoma and glioblastoma. The firms will share post-commercialization economics.

Sun Pharmaceutical Industries announced on Tuesday that it has signed a global licensing agreement with Italian-Swiss firm Philogen for an anti-cancer drug named Fibromun.

Under the agreement, Sun Pharma will hold exclusive worldwide commercialization rights for Fibromun, which Philogen is investigating in registration trials for treating soft tissue sarcoma and glioblastoma.

Philogen will handle the completion of ongoing pivotal clinical trials, seek marketing authorization, and manufacture commercial supplies. Sun Pharma will manage the commercialization efforts. The companies will share the post-commercialization profits in a 45:55 split in favor of Sun Pharma.

Details of other financial terms were not disclosed. However, Sun Pharma's Chairman and MD, Dilip Shanghvi, expressed optimism about Fibromun's potential to treat cancers with significant unmet medical needs. The partnership marks an expansion of Sun Pharma's clinical pipeline into oncology, aligning with its current portfolio in skin cancers.

Philogen's CEO and CSO, Dario Neri, emphasized that the collaboration aims to bring Fibromun, a promising new immunotherapy, to patients with limited treatment options for certain cancers, including glioblastoma. The firm's data has shown long-lasting anti-tumor responses in a subset of patients with glioblastoma.

In a separate arrangement last year, the two companies had agreed on a distribution, license, and supply deal for another specialty product, Nidlegy, targeting European and Australasian markets.

(With inputs from agencies.)