Q BioMed Inc (OTCQB:QBIO) revealed that it has struck an exclusive license agreement with authorized Europe and Middle East distributor Clionix for the distribution and sales of the company’s metastatic bone pain drug Strontium89.
The New York-based biotech said that under the terms of the agreement, Clionix has received “exclusive rights” to distribute Strontium89 in Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Azerbaijan, Bulgaria, Romania, Egypt, Kuwait and Pakistan.
Q BioMed’s commercialized flagship drug candidate is Metastron, which it purchased from GE Healthcare, to treat metastatic bone pain. The drug is administered intravenously once every three months as an alternative to opioid analgesics. The company also has a US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved generic version called Strontium89 Chloride USP, used for the treatment of painful skeletal metastases caused by cancer. Common primary tumors that metastasize to the bone include prostate, breast, and lung, as well as others.
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In the Strontium89 pivotal trial, as many as 79% of patients had pain relief with Strontium89, and twice as many patients treated with Strontium89 had no pain for three months compared with placebo. In addition, new pain sites were less frequent in patients treated with Strontium891,2, said the company.
Over ten million people around the world suffer from pain associated with metastatic cancer in the bone and may benefit from Strontium89, according to the company. For nearly two years, there has been little to no access to this vital therapy. “Clionix and Q BioMed will work together to increase the awareness of doctors and patients to the availability of Strontium89,” said the company. Q BioMed said it is “actively pursuing full regulatory and marketing approval for Strontium89 in these markets,” as well as in other markets worldwide.
In a statement, Q BioMed Chief Commercial Officer Kristin Keller said: "We are very happy to collaborate with Clionix and bring Strontium89, a viable treatment for patients suffering from painful skeletal metastases caused by cancer to these markets. We are actively working to ensure that Strontium89 is accessible to patients everywhere and to extend its relevance and use thorough additional clinical study."
Meanwhile, Clionix General Manager Hasan Ozcan noted that as the distributor is focused on providing radiopharmaceuticals in the region, it is “happy to partner” with Q BioMed and bring Strontium89 to doctors and patients.
Strontium89 Chloride is administered once every three months via injection, and patients can be re-treated if needed. In view of the delayed onset of pain relief, typically 7 to 20 days post-injection, administration of Strontium-89 Chloride injection to patients with very short life expectancy is not recommended, noted the company.
Contact the author Uttara Choudhury at uttara@proactiveinvestors.com
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