PharmaMar and Chugai Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. have entered into a mutual early termination agreement for for the license, development and commercialization agreement for Zepsyre in Japan entered on December 22nd, 2016, with an effective date of termination in April 2019.

Under the terms of this early termination agreement, PharmaMar regains all its rights for Zepsyre® in Japan with immediate effect and will receive a payment of €3,000,000 from Chugai in consideration for the early termination of the license agreement.

PharmaMar will continue with the clinical development of Zepsyre in Japan, while its global registration trial in small-cell lung cancer (ATLANTIS; n=600) is about to finalize recruitment in July 2018. This pivotal, randomized, Phase III trial assesses the efficacy of Zepsyre® in combination with doxorubicin compared with the standard treatment for this indication.

PharmaMar has begun discussions with new potential licensees for Japan during the recent annual meeting of ASCO (American Society of Clinical Oncology) in June, where the company has presented encouraging clinical data on the use of Zepsyre in small- cell lung cancer as a single agent, including an overall survival benefit of 11.8 months.

Luis Mora, managing director of PharmaMar´s Oncology Business Unit, said,  “We thank Chugai for the great relationship in the past. The mutual termination now offers PharmaMar the opportunity to engage in a new partnership for Japan, while Chugai can focus on its own pipeline.”