ProMetic Life Sciences earned a $1 million first payment tied to achieving an undisclosed first milestone related to the advancement of a plasma-derived orphan drug with Hematech Biotherapeutics.

The payment, disclosed yesterday, is part of an overall $10 million drug licensing and development agreement between ProMetric and Hematech announced in May. Of that total, $1 million was paid to ProMetic as an upfront fee, with remaining additional milestone payments totaling $8 million—half of which are expected to be achieved over the next 12 to 15 months.

The orphan drug—for an undisclosed condition—will be commercialized globally except in China by ProMetic and Hematech, with the companies sharing profits equally. ProMetic will manufacture the drug in its Laval, Quebec, facility and in Hematech’s planned facility in Taiwan. Under their May agreement, Hematech agreed to fully fund construction and operating costs of the planned cGMP plant, dedicated to manufacture plasma-derived therapeutics for ProMetic and its licensees, based on the design of ProMetic’s own Laval facility.

The orphan drug is being developed using ProMetic’s Plasma Protein Purification System (PPPS™), which allows for targeting and removal of multiple proteins from a single plasma sample using ProMetic’s Mimetic Ligand™ adsorbent technology. Both companies have a drug focus on hematology, while ProMetic has also focused on products for treating fibrosis and cancer.

Previous articleSirtex, SingHealth to Study Cancer-Fighting Nanoparticles
Next articleGalena and Leica to Develop CDx for Breast Cancer Therapeutic