ChemGenex Acquires Full Control of Omacetaxine, Consolidating the Product's Global Rights

  
    
  
  
    
      ChemGenex Pharmaceuticals (ASX:CXS)(NASDAQ:CXSP) announced today that 
      the company will gain full commercial control of omacetaxine 
      mepesuccinate (formerly known as Ceflatonin®) 
      through an arrangement with its European partner Stragen Pharma to 
      transfer the ownership of Intellectual Property (IP) and commercial 
      rights currently held by Stragen.
    
    
      Omacetaxine is ChemGenex’s lead product in 
      clinical development and is in the final stages of a phase 2/3 clinical 
      trial in chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) patients with the T315I mutation 
      for whom there are currently no effective drug treatments.
    
    
      The new agreement will result in the assignment of Stragen’s 
      omacetaxine IP suite to ChemGenex, removing the need for an IP royalty 
      on manufacturing and significantly reducing the cost of goods. 
      Similarly, the new agreement removes the need for a European joint 
      venture, allowing ChemGenex to control European development and access 
      all profits from sales of omacetaxine in Europe, including current 
      compassionate use sales of the drug. The new acquisition strengthens 
      ChemGenex’s ability to freely pursue multiple 
      commercialization opportunities for omacetaxine.
    
    
      Subject to approval by ChemGenex shareholders at a General Meeting to be 
      held within the next two months, consideration for the acquisition of 
      global IP rights and European commercialization rights will be through 
      the issuance by the company of 37,235,343 new ordinary shares in 
      ChemGenex.
    
    
      Reflecting Stragen’s manufacturing expertise 
      and understanding of omacetaxine, Stragen will remain ChemGenex’s 
      supplier of omacetaxine and will become a significant shareholder.
    
    
      The new agreement concludes formal manufacturing and commercialization 
      agreements entered into by ChemGenex and Stragen three years ago. Under 
      the prior agreements ChemGenex provided expertise in drug development 
      and clinical trial management while Stragen provided a patented 
      manufacturing process, GMP manufacturing and product distribution 
      expertise. The prior agreements also entailed an IP royalty as a 
      component of the manufacturing cost, and mandated the establishment of a 
      European joint venture to control marketing in Europe. The profit split 
      of sales by the joint venture that had been agreed at ChemGenex 49%, 
      Stragen 51% will no longer be in effect.
    
    
      “Stragen has been an excellent partner and has 
      worked with us to progress omacetaxine to an advanced state where we 
      have growing confidence in the ability of the drug to be an effective 
      therapy for the subset of CML patients who have developed the T315I 
      mutation and who have failed to respond to imatinib,” 
      said Dr. Greg Collier, ChemGenex’s Managing 
      Director and Chief Executive Officer.
    
    
      “This is a logical progression of what has 
      been a very productive alliance to date,” 
      added Jean-Luc Tetard, President of Stragen Pharma. "We believe that the 
      consolidation of global IP and commercialization rights for omacetaxine 
      will open a range of new possibilities for ChemGenex to continue to 
      build upon the successes reported over the past year."
    
    
      Ceflatonin® is a 
      registered trademark of ChemGenex Pharmaceuticals Limited.
    
    
      About ChemGenex Pharmaceuticals Limited (http://www.chemgenex.com)
    
    
      ChemGenex Pharmaceuticals is a pharmaceutical development company 
      dedicated to improving the lives of patients by developing personalized 
      oncology medicines. ChemGenex harnesses the power of genomics both to 
      discover novel targets and drug compounds, and in clinical trials to 
      develop more individualized treatment outcomes. ChemGenex’s 
      lead compound, omacetaxine mepesuccinate (formerly known as Ceflatonin®), 
      is currently in phase 2/3 clinical trials for chronic myeloid leukemia 
      (CML). ChemGenex has a second anticancer compound, amonafide 
      dihydrochloride (formerly known as Quinamed®), 
      which is in phase 2 clinical development for various solid cancers, and 
      a portfolio of assets in pre-clinical development. ChemGenex currently 
      trades on the Australian Stock Exchange under the symbol "CXS" and on 
      NASDAQ under the symbol "CXSP".
    
    
      Details on the clinical trials can be accessed from the following 
      websites;
    
    
      http://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/ 
      NCT00375219?term=homoharringtonine&rank=9 and http://www.tkiresistantcmltrials.com
    
    
      (Due to its length, this URL may need to be copied/pasted into your 
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