Private equity firm Celtic Therapeutics Holdings will invest up to USD15m in the development of Spirogen’s lead cancer drug, SG2000.
Spirogen expects to continue clinical development of SG2000 in an upcoming National Cancer Institute-sponsored multi-centre phase II study of SG2000 in the US in resistant and refractory ovarian cancer.
SG2000 (previously known as SJG-136) is a highly potent DNA-interactive molecule that has demonstrated anti-tumour activity in multiple tumour types across a number of preclinical and clinical studies.
The development programme has benefited from more than USD20m of investment to date, including clinical trials sponsored by Cancer Research UK and the National Cancer Institute in the US under a cooperative research and development agreement, now with Spirogen.
Celtic Therapeutics’ pharmaceutical development team, which includes a number of senior industry executives from companies such as Pfizer, Novartis, Quintiles and PPD, will actively support the SG2000 programme.
Therapies to treat chemotherapy-resistant or refractory ovarian cancer represent a significant unmet medical need for the approximately 60,000 women that are diagnosed each year with ovarian cancer in North America, Europe and Japan. SG2000 may also have potential application in other solid tumours and leukemias.
Dr. Chris Martin, chief executive officer of Spirogen, says: “This agreement with Celtic Therapeutics not only provides the capital necessary for clinical development of SG2000, but also gives Spirogen access to a world class development team as we move our phase II program for SG2000 forward, we are delighted to have completed this investment and look forward to working with the highly experienced Celtic team to take our product to market in areas of significant unmet medical need.”
Stephen Evans-Freke, founder and co-general partners of Celtic Therapeutics, says: “This is a critical and unique drug development programme. SG2000 has the potential to help the lives of so many women suffering from ovarian cancer, as well as showing promise in a number of other solid tumours and leukemias.”
Spirogen has also regained the licence and development rights to SG2000 from its former development partner, Ipsen. Under a revised agreement, Spirogen has assumed leadership responsibility for the global development and commercialisation of SG2000.
