VASTox Signs Carbohydrate Drug Development Deal with US Pharmaceutical Company

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VASTox plc has announced that it has signed a long-term commercial collaboration with an undisclosed US pharmaceutical company that has total annual sales in excess of $100 million.
The deal involves VASTox’s wholly owned subsidiary, Dextra Laboratories (“Dextra”), the carbohydrate drug discovery, process and development specialist, and is focused on the late-stage development of a healthcare product owned by the undisclosed company, that is due to launch in 2010.
Using its carbohydrate chemistry expertise and experience, Dextra will improve the cost-efficiency of the manufacturing route for this product, which has already been shown to be safe and efficacious during current clinical trials.
Under the terms of the agreement, VASTox will receive development payments of $450,000, the majority of which will appear in the current financial year and a 5% annual royalty fee starting in 2009 as stocks of the product are built up ahead of market launch. Annual sales of the product are predicted to peak in 2013 with royalty income for VASTox of around US$1 million at that time.
Steven Lee, PhD, CEO of VASTox commented “This is a sizeable long-term collaboration deal in one of our key areas of focus, carbohydrate chemistry, and arises following the acquisition of Dextra earlier this year.”
“With the additional expertise that Dextra provides in this specialist area of chemistry, VASTox can now successfully compete for these higher-value and longer-term deals. Overall in 2007, this is VASTox’s third long-term deal signed covering the entire service business and as a Company, we are confident our world-leading technologies and expertise will generate additional high-value deals in the coming months.”