Progen Pharmaceuticals (ASX:PGL) has entered into a binding term sheet for a licence with Taiwan's Medigen Biotech to develop and commercialise Progen's PG545 to prevent and treat Hepatocellular Carcinoma and non-oncology indications globally.
The drug candidate is a heparin sulphate mimetic used to inhibit growth factors and the enzyme heparanase a drug target currently implicated in tumour metastasis and angiogenesis, inflammation and diabetes.
Both parties are still to execute a formal licence agreement, and Progen needs to get federal approval as the drug was developed under the Commercial Ready Program Grant.
Medigen is listed on the Taiwanese exchange and is focused on developing new therapeutics for liver diseases and cancers.
Progen's collaboration with Medigen goes far back with Progen having licenced the worldwide oncology rights of PI-88 to Medigen in 2010. Currently, Medigen is conducting a randomised, placebo controlled multinational Phase III PATRON trial designed to confirm the efficacy and safety of PI-88 in the adjuvant treatment of HCC.
Progen will retain the rights for all other indications of PG545 and depending upon results from the pre-clinical toxicology study, it will seek to start Phase 1 clinical trial under a IV route next year.
Progen Pharmaceuticals is a biotechnology company committed to the discovery, development and commercialisation of small molecule pharmaceuticals primarily for the treatment of cancer.
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