Uppsala, Sweden, October 05, 2020 – Oasmia Pharmaceutical AB, an innovation-focused specialty pharmaceutical company, notes today’s announcement that Elevar Therapeutics, Inc. and Taiba Middle East FZ LLC have entered into an exclusive agreement under which Taiba will commercialize and distribute Apealea® (micellar paclitaxel) in certain countries throughout the Middle East and North African (MENA) region. Under the terms of the agreement, Taiba will also be responsible for managing named-patient requests through which physicians can legally and ethically prescribe Apealea for patients prior to commercial availability.
Apealea is a patented formulation of paclitaxel in combination with Oasmia’s proprietary XR-17™ technology which encapsulates individual active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) in a layer of micelles, making the API and micelle formulation water soluble and therefore usable in water based intravenous injections.
Apealea has been approved by the European regulatory authorities for use in combination with carboplatin for the treatment of adult patients with first relapse of platinum-sensitive epithelial ovarian cancer, primary peritoneal cancer and fallopian tube cancer.
In March 2020, Oasmia signed a global strategic partnership with Elevar Therapeutics for the commercialization of Apealea, making Oasmia eligible for potential milestone payments of up to USD 678 million- and double-digit royalties on sales.
François Martelet, M.D., CEO of Oasmia, commented: “It is great to see Elevar secure a quality regional partner for the MENA region which will initiate the process of obtaining regulatory approvals and commercialization. If regulatory approval is obtained, Apealea will be the first Cremophor-free formulation of paclitaxel approved for use in ovarian cancer in the Middle East and North Africa region and offer many cancer patients a therapeutic option with far less side effects.”
Alex Kim, CEO of Elevar Therapeutics, added: “Partnering with Taiba in the Middle East and North Africa is an important milestone in our global registration and commercialization strategy for Apealea. This is the first regional partnership deal for Apealea, we are in active discussions with a number of other potential partners for other regions around the world and look forward to updating the public as these deals are executed.”
-ENDS-
For more information:
Francois Martelet, Chief Executive Officer
Phone: +46 18-50 54 40
E-mail: IR@oasmia.com
About Oasmia Pharmaceutical AB
Oasmia is a specialty pharma company dedicated to improving the lives of patients by enhancing the intravenous delivery of established and novel drugs in diseases, including cancer. Product development is based on the Company’s proprietary technology platform XR-17™, which can be applied to medicines in any therapeutic area to develop novel formulations of medicines with an improved performance and safety profile compared with existing alternatives. Oasmia has already demonstrated success applying its technology to develop improved formulations of well-established cytostatic cancer drugs. Apealea® (paclitaxel micellar), Oasmia’s most advanced product has received market authorization in the European Union and several other territories for the treatment of advanced ovarian cancer and its use in a number of other cancers is currently being evaluated. The Company is in the process of making Apealea® accessible to patients through its partnership with Elevar, together with its existing commercial operations in the Nordic region. Oasmia’s shares are traded on the Nasdaq Stockholm stock exchange (ticker: OASM). To find out more about Oasmia please visit www.vivesto.com.