media: Merck’s $1 billion deal includes phase 3 ovarian cancer therapeutic (Vintafolide/Endocyte)

Merck’s $1 billion deal includes phase 3 ovarian cancer therapeutic

 Merck (NYSE:MRK) has forged a deal with a biopharmaceutical company for its phase 3 platinum-resistant ovarian cancer treatment and nonsmall cell lung cancer in mid-stage development in a deal valued at up to $1 billion... Under the terms of the deal, Merck, through a subsidiary, will get worldwide rights to develop and commercialize vintafolide for ovarian cancer that’s resistant to platinum-based chemotherapy treatment. Endocyte (NASDAQ:ECYT), the Indiana-based cancer therapeutics developer, will receive a $120 million up-front payment and is eligible for milestone payments of up to $880 million if it achieves certain development, regulatory and commercialization milestones for vintafolide for a total of six cancer indications, according to a company statement......

"...The clinical trials for both maladies will also use etarfolatide, a noninvasive companion diagnostic imaging agent that is used to identify folate receptor positive tumor cells.....

Merck and Endocyte Enter Exclusive Worldwide Agreement to Develop and Commercialize Phase III Cancer Candidate Vintafolide (EC145) - MarketWatch

Merck and Endocyte Enter Exclusive Worldwide Agreement to Develop and Commercialize Phase III Cancer Candidate Vintafolide (EC145) - MarketWatch

Apr 16, 2012 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- Merck, known as MSD outside the United States and Canada, MRK +0.58% and Endocyte Inc. ECYT +103.95% , today announced that they have entered into an agreement to develop and commercialize Endocyte's novel investigational therapeutic candidate vintafolide (EC145). Vintafolide is currently being evaluated in a Phase III clinical trial for platinum-resistant ovarian cancer, (PROCEED trial) and a Phase II trial for non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC); both studies are also using Endocyte's investigational companion diagnostic agent, etarfolatide (EC20).

"Vintafolide is a promising and innovative late-stage cancer drug candidate. In addition to pursuing the lead indication of platinum-resistant ovarian cancer, Merck plans to further evaluate its potential for treatment of multiple other cancer types," said Peter S. Kim, executive vice president and president Merck Research Laboratories. "This agreement underscores our strategy of building a portfolio of oncology therapeutics that employ a companion diagnostic to facilitate selection of those patients most likely to respond to treatment.".....

Medpage SGO news: :Combo Promising for Resistant Ovarian Cancer - in Meeting Coverage, SGO from MedPage Today

Medical News:Combo Promising for Resistant Ovarian Cancer - in Meeting Coverage, SGO from MedPage Today

"....The between-group difference increased to 4 months in the subgroup of patients whose lesions had imaging-confirmed folate-receptor expression.
Overall survival did not differ between the groups, due in part to an unusually prolonged survival in the control arm, R. Wendel Naumann, MD, said here at the Society of Gynecologic Oncology meeting.
"This is the first clinical trial that has shown a benefit in progression-free survival over standardized therapy in a randomized trial in patients with platinum-resistant ovarian cancer, and we think it's pretty exciting," said Naumann, of Carolinas Medical Center in Charlotte, N.C.
"We know that EC20 scanning identifies patients who will benefit most from the combination of pegylated liposomal doxorubicin and vintafolide, as well as those who will not benefit. It appears that patients in whom all lesions are folate-receptor positive benefit the most from this combination."
A phase III randomized trial of PLD plus vintafolide has already begun, he added.............

Action Points

• This study was published as an abstract and presented at a conference. These data and conclusions should be considered to be preliminary until published in a peer-reviewed journal.
• Note that a compound which binds with high affinity to the folate receptor, which is expressed on the majority of epithelial ovarian cancers, and releases a cytotoxic component significantly increased progression-free survival in this phase two study.

Endocyte Receives USAN Approval for Nonproprietary Names of Novel Endocyte Drug Candidates - financial news (EC145/Vintafolide/Etarfolatide)

Endocyte Receives USAN Approval for Nonproprietary Names of Novel Endocyte Drug Candidates (Nasdaq:ECYT)

"March 22, 2012 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) --

Endocyte, Inc.  (Nasdaq:ECYT), a biopharmaceutical company developing targeted small molecule drug conjugates (SMDCs) and companion imaging diagnostics for personalized therapy, today announced that the World Health Organization and the United States Adopted Names (USAN) Council have approved the nonproprietary name "vintafolide" (pronounced vin ta foe' lide) for Endocyte's therapeutic drug candidate EC145 and the nonproprietary name of "etarfolatide" (pronounced et" ar foe' la tide) for Endocyte's companion imaging agent EC20. Vintafolide and etarfolatide are currently being evaluated in the Phase 3 PROCEED trial for the treatment of women with folate-receptor positive platinum-resistant ovarian cancer. Etarfolatide is being used to select patients with tumors that over-express folate receptors and who are most likely to benefit from vintafolide therapy. Endocyte intends to file European Marketing Authorisation Applications for both agents based on positive Phase 2 results............."