Biocon, Asia's premier biotechnology company, and Advaxis, Inc., (NASDAQ: ADXS), a leader in developing the next generation of cancer immunotherapies, announced today that they have entered into an exclusive licensing agreement for co-development and commercialization of ADXS-HPV, a novel cancer immunotherapy for the treatment of human papillomavirus (HPV)-associated cervical cancer in women, for India and key emerging markets.
As per the agreement, Biocon will also have access to Advaxis' innovative and proprietary immunotherapy technology that can be leveraged for the development of other novel therapeutics for various unmet medical needs.
Chairperson and MD of Biocon, Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw said, ''Biocon is committed to finding solutions for women's health issues. This partnership will enable us to develop ADXS-HPV a novel immunotherapy to combat cervical cancer in women. It is a promising technology that has the ability to suppress the tumor inside the micro-environment, and can be leveraged for developing several other novel therapeutics to address various unmet medical needs of patients in India and other emerging markets.''
''We are excited to partner with Biocon, one of the world's leading biotechnology companies and the largest biotechnology company in India to bring our innovative cancer immunotherapy for cervical cancer to women with few alternatives,'' commented Daniel J. O'Connor, CEO of Advaxis. ''This agreement gives us reach into key markets where the number of patients with HPV-associated cancers is overwhelming.''
Abhijit Barve, president of Research & Development at Biocon said, ''The clinical data generated so far with ADXS-HPV look very encouraging in patients with advanced metastatic disease who were resistant or refractory to existing therapies. The clinical responses were comparable to prevalent chemotherapy agents and this was achieved with very low incidence of adverse events. Hence ADXS-HPV is likely to offer patients a safe and effective alternate to chemotherapeutic agents.''
Shares of the company declined Rs 3.15, or 0.65%, to settle at Rs 479.15. The total volume of shares traded was 531,805 at the BSE (Wednesday).
