InterMune acquires key pirfenidone patents

Biotechnology firm InterMune has entered into agreements with fellow USA-based biopharmaceutical company Marnac, and co-licensor KDL GmbH, which eliminate InterMune's royalty obligations related to the drug pirfenidone, which it licensed in March 2002 (Marketletters passim). California-headquartered InterMune has also acquired exclusive worldwide rights to certain additional intellectual property that was not covered under the original deal.

Pirfenidone shows promise in IPF

Previously completed in vitro and animal studies have demonstrated that pirfenidone is a potent inhibitor of collagen synthesis that down regulates the production of profibrotic cytokines, tumor necrosis factor alpha and thereby decreases fibroblast proliferation. Development of the drug is concentrating on its use as a treatment for idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, a condition characterized by inflammation in and scarring of the lungs. IPF is a progressive disorder that inhibits a patient's ability to breath. At present the disease, which is believed to affect more than 200,000 people in the USA and Europe, has a median survival time of two to five years following diagnosis, with only around 20% of sufferers living for five years or more.