Oncodesign Enters into a Services Agreement with Eisai

Oncodesign has announced the signing of an agreement with Eisai Inc., a subsidiary of Eisai Co., Ltd. Oncodesign will conduct in vivo pharmacology studies and Eisai will provide gene expression profiling analysis using Oncodesign’s patient-derived xenograft models (PDX) to investigate the potential of Halaven® eribulin in earlier line treatment of metastatic breast cancer.

Eribulin (marketed by Eisai in Europe as Halaven) is indicated in Europe for the treatment of patients with locally advanced or metastatic breast cancer who have progressed after at least one chemotherapeutic regimen for advanced disease. Prior therapy should have included an anthracycline and a taxane in either the adjuvant or metastatic setting unless patients were not suitable for these treatments. Eribulin is the first in the halichondrin class of microtubule dynamics inhibitors with a novel mechanism of action developed by Eisai and approved in 55 countries to treat patients with metastatic breast cancer.

Biomarkers are designed to assist physicians in selecting effective therapies for their patients, based on the individual characteristics of each person. The use of clinically relevant breast PDX models generates results to quickly and accurately investigate potential predictive biomarkers and sensitive patient subgroups.

Oncodesign could receive revenues up to 1.25M Euros for their contribution towards the total eribulin biomarker development program, of which 0.9M Euros have already been received.

Philippe Genne, Chairman and CEO of Oncodesign, commented, “We are very excited to be partnering with a leading and innovative pharmaceutical company like Eisai. Preclinical research was recently conducted by Oncodesign in collaboration with Eisai using pharmaco-imaging to further investigate the mechanism of action for eribulin. The results of the upcoming PDX pharmacology studies and gene expression profiling could provide insights into patient responses to Eisai’s eribulin.”