Merrimack acquires development and commercialization rights to MM-398 in Europe, Asia

Merrimack Pharmaceuticals, Inc. and PharmaEngine, Inc. (Taipei, Taiwan) today announced the signing of an agreement under which Merrimack has acquired the rights to develop and commercialize MM-398 (aka PEP02) in Europe and Asia.  

MM-398, originally developed by Hermes BioSciences which was acquired by Merrimack in 2009, is a highly stable nanoliposomal formulation of irinotecan. Previously, the development and commercialization rights to MM-398 in Europe and Asia had been licensed to PharmaEngine. Merrimack held the rights to the product in North America and all other territories around the world.  Through this agreement, the worldwide rights to MM-398 have been reunited, with Merrimack now having the right to develop and commercialize MM-398 in all territories of the world with the exception of Taiwan, where PharmaEngine will retain its rights to develop and commercialize MM-398.  Under the terms of the agreement, Merrimack and PharmaEngine will collaborate on the development of MM-398.  PharmaEngine will receive a $10 million upfront payment and is eligible to receive up to an additional $210 million upon achievement of certain development, regulatory and sales milestones as well as tiered royalties on sales of MM-398 in Europe and Asia.

"We believe that unifying the development strategy of MM-398 is critical as we plan to move the program forward into late stage clinical trials in indications like gemcitabine-refractory pancreatic cancer where patients have very limited options," said Robert Mulroy, President and Chief Executive Officer of Merrimack. "The PharmaEngine team has laid a great foundation for phase 3 development and commercialization by conducting clinical trials across multiple indications and we look forward to working aggressively with them to bring this product to market."

To date, PharmaEngine has tested MM-398 (under the designation of PEP02) in several human clinical studies including Phase 1 safety studies and a randomized Phase 2 trial in gastric cancer patients. A Phase 2 study in pancreatic cancer patients and a Phase 1 study in colorectal cancer patients are currently ongoing. Final data from the Phase 2 gastric cancer trial and interim data on the Phase 2 pancreatic cancer trial were presented at the 2011 Gastrointestinal Cancers Symposium in January.  MM-398 is also being evaluated in a Phase 1 glioma trial under an investigator-sponsored IND at the University of California, San Francisco.