Spectrum Pharmaceuticals inked a co-development and commercialization agreement with Korean firm Hanmi Pharmaceutical centered on the latter’s Laps-GCSF candidate (now designated SPI-2012) for treating chemotherapy-induced neutropenia. The deal gives Spectrum commercialization rights to the drug worldwide, except for Korea, China, and Japan. The firms say it projects initiating a joint Phase II study during 2012.
SPI-2012 is a long-acting GCSF based on Hanmi’s Lapscovery™ (long acting protein/peptide discovery) platform, which is designed to boost the half life of biologics. The candidate has undergone a Phase I healthy volunteer trial, which showed the drug demonstrated similar activity to Neulasta® (pegfilgrastim), but at just one-third the dose.
SPI-2012 represents Spectrum’s third biologic drug, according to Rajesh C. Shrotria, M.D., CEO. “Early evidence suggests that there could be advantages of SPI-2012 over currently approved therapies in increasing the rate and intensity of neutrophil recovery,” he states. “We believe this agreement is consistent with our strategy of acquiring promising drug candidates at reasonable up-front and development costs, while maintaining significant economics for our shareholders in the long term.”