Teva Pharmaceutical Industries and Shanghai Fosun Pharmaceutical (Fosun Pharma) have announced a strategic partnership focused on developing a drug candidate currently in phase 1 clinical development for various forms of cancer.
The alliance, which aims to accelerate clinical data generation, marks a “significant step forward” in the global development of TEV-56278, according to the companies.
Teva’s experimental anti-PD1-IL2 ATTENUKINE therapy is designed to selectively deliver interleukin-2 to PD-1-expressing T cells within the tumour microenvironment, with the goal of amplifying anti-tumour T-cell activity while minimising systemic toxicities.
The drug is being evaluated as both a monotherapy and in combination with Merck & Co’s Keytruda (pembrolizumab) for cancers such as melanoma, after demonstrating tumour regression, enhanced T-cell infiltration, and durable immune memory in preclinical studies.
Eric Hughes, Executive Vice President, Teva Global Research and Development (R&D) and Chief Medical Officer, said: “This partnership with Fosun Pharma in the development of our internally developed TEV-56278, an anti-PD1-IL2 ATTENUKINE therapy with the potential to treat devastating cancers, is the latest advance to ensuring acceleration of our pipeline.”
Though financial details of the agreement have not been disclosed, the new partners outlined that Fosun Pharma will be granted an exclusive licence to develop, manufacture and commercialise TEV-56278 in Chinese mainland, Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (SAR), Macau SAR and Taiwan region and select Southeast Asian countries, with Teva retaining all rights in the rest of the world.
Xingli Wang, Executive President of Fosun Pharma and Chief Executive Officer of the Global R&D Center, added: “This collaboration brings together Teva’s expertise in innovative drug development with Fosun Pharma’s strong oncology development experience and commercial capabilities in the China market, creating a powerful synergy to accelerate the delivery of this important therapy to patients globally.”
