An affiliate of Hong Kong-listed Lee's Pharmaceutical Holdings has licensed the TG02 oncology treatment developed by California-based Tragara Pharmaceuticals, the companies said in a statement.
Lee's China Oncology Focus affiliate company signed the deal in which Lee's receives exclusive rights to develop and commercialize TG02 in much of Asia including mainland China, Hong Kong, Macau, Taiwan, Brunei, Cambodia, East Timor, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.
Tragara got an undisclosed upfront payment from Lee's as well as future milestone payments and royalties on net sales, the companies said in their statement. Lee's will pay all costs associated with development and commercialization in the licensed markets.
The companies said Lee's will initially "focus on clinical development of TG02 in the treatment of hepatocellular carcinoma" and the two entities will share any results and data from the trials.
Tragara also disclosed in the statement that it had closed a $13 million Series C private fundraising in which Lee's Pharma participated along with current investors Domain Associates, Morgenthaler Ventures, ProQuest Investments and RusnanoMedInvest.
"We are very happy to partner with Lee's Pharma in order to expand and accelerate TG02 development on a global basis," Thomas Estok, president and CEO of Tragara, said in the company's statement. "This partnership will not only explore the treatment of HCC with TG02, but will serve as a platform to establish clinical proof-of-concept in solid tumors that overexpress the MYC oncogene. Lee's Pharma has a great track record and we look forward to our collaboration."
In their statement, the companies said "TG02 development will initially focus on the treatment of hematologic malignancies, including multiple myeloma, based on the consistent anti-tumor activity that has been observed across a broad spectrum of hematologic cancer models, including those resistant to currently available therapies."
- here's the release