Medarex grants Diatos full European rights to cancer drug DTS-201

By E. Janene Geiss

Philadelphia, March 28 - Diatos SA said Tuesday that it has been granted full European commercialization rights for DTS-201, a doxorubicin prodrug for targeted cancer therapy, from Medarex Inc.

In exchange for these rights, Diatos said it agreed to pay an upfront payment in cash and stock, milestone payments and royalties on future sales of DTS-201, according to a company news release.

In April of 2003, Diatos said it licensed from Medarex certain European rights to develop and commercialize DTS-201.

Since in-licensing the product in early preclinical development, Diatos said it has completed preclinical development and initiated in July 2005 an open label phase 1 clinical study with DTS-201 involving three leading oncology clinical centers in Belgium and France.

The main purpose of the current clinical trial is an assessment of its maximum-tolerated dose, safety profile and pharmacokinetics in patients with advanced or metastatic solid tumors.

"Obtaining the full commercialization rights in Europe from Medarex underlines Diatos' commitment to building a robust portfolio of targeted oncology therapeutic candidates, thereby reinforcing the company's position as a strong European player in prodrug therapeutics," John Tchelingerian, president and chief executive officer of Diatos, said in the release.

DTS-201 consists of doxorubicin, a marketed cytotoxic compound used in treating several cancer types, conjugated to a proprietary peptide technology discovered in 1996 by Andre Trouet and his team at Universite Catholique de Louvain in Belgium. DTS-201 is called Super-Leu-Dox (CPI-0004) in the United States, officials said.

DTS-201 is remains inactive while circulating in the bloodstream and healthy tissues and does not enter cells. In the vicinity of tumors, extracellular enzymes overexpressed and oversecreted specifically in the tumor environment cleave DTS-201 to yield an intermediate, L-Dox (leucyl doxorubicin), which is capable of penetrating cells.

Once in the cell, intracellular peptidases release free doxorubicin, which is then able to interact with its targets. The ability to target and deliver anticancer agents preferentially to tumors and limit their toxic effect on normal cells is expected to result in better clinical outcomes both in terms of improved response rates and lower toxicity, officials said.

Diatos is a privately held, Paris-based biopharmaceutical company dedicated to the development and commercialization of novel anticancer therapies.

Medarex is a Princeton, N.J., biopharmaceutical company focused on development and commercialization of fully human antibody-based therapeutics to treat cancer, inflammation, autoimmune disorders and infectious diseases.

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