AnGes pays Vical $6.3M for Allovectin-7 trial

US drugmaker Vical has received $6.3 million in cash payments and equity investments from Japanese drugmaker AnGes MG, under a previously-announced collaborative agreement for continued funding of an ongoing Allovectin-7 Phase III trial in metastatic melanoma. As part of the deal, Vical has received $15.3 million so far of the $22.6 million total committed by AnGes.

Vical is evaluating Allovectin-7 as first-line therapy in chemotherapy-naive patients with Stage III or IV metastatic melanoma in accordance with a special protocol assessment agreement completed with the US Food and Drug Administration. The AIMM trial calls for the inclusion of approximately 375 patients and is currently enrolling at clinical sites in the USA, Canada and Europe.

In exchange for funding the trial, AnGes received exclusive marketing rights in Japan and other key Asian countries, and will also receive certain royalties on sales in the USA and European nations. In return, the firm is obliged to pay royalties on sales in the specified Asian markets, plus certain sales-based milestones if certain targets are achieved. Each company will be responsible for obtaining regulatory approvals in any countries where it plans to market the novel immunotherapuetic, which is a plasmid/lipid complex containing the DNA sequences encoding HLA-B7 and beta 2 microglobulin, designed to stimulate an immune response against both local and distant metastatic tumors.