Aphton, sanofi pasteur terminate Insegnia co-promotion agreement

By E. Janene Geiss

Philadelphia, Nov. 9 - Aphton Corp. announced Tuesday that it mutually decided with sanofi pasteur to terminate immediately the co-promotion and licensing agreement related to Aphton's lead immunotherapy compound, Insegnia.

The original agreements, signed in 1997, were related to the development, manufacturing and co-promotion rights for all human cancer applications of Insegnia, including stomach, esophageal, colorectal and pancreatic cancers, officials said in a company news release.

Under the terms of the agreement, Aphton was to be responsible for product development, clinical trials and regulatory filings, and sanofi pasteur was to be responsible for the promotion, advertising, marketing, distribution and sales of Aphton's anti-gastrin vaccine in North America and Europe.

In addition, officials said Aphton and sanofi pasteur had entered into agreements providing for the supply of diphtheria toxoid, a key component of Insegia.

"By dissolving these agreements and regaining essentially unencumbered worldwide rights to Insegia we are in a better position to find a new corporate partner with the goal of furthering the development of Insegia, specifically as a therapeutic option for patients with gastric cancer. Up until this point any discussions we have had with potential partners have been limited," Patrick Mooney, chairman and chief executive officer of Aphton, said in the release.

Philadelphia-based Aphton is a clinical stage biopharmaceutical company focused on developing immunotherapies for cancer.

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