Concord Kirin signed a US$289 million agreement to obtain sepsis assets from Pfizer’s refusal to exercise its option

Pfizer abandoned a sepsis project ilofotase alfa in 2018, but now, Concord Kirin is willing to pay US$289 million to obtain AM-Pharma's exclusive license for the project in Japan

After a phase 2 clinical trial failed, even though Pfizer abandoned the drug, AM-Pharma then launched a global phase 3 clinical trial to test ilofotase alfa in patients with acute kidney injury related to sepsis

After Pfizer spent US$87.

After Pfizer expressed its refusal, AM Pharma quickly recovered its decline and received support from private investors of US$131 million in 2019

Now, Concord Kirin has set its sights on this asset and signed an exclusive license agreement to develop and commercialize the drug in Japan

Acute kidney injury can cause loss of kidney function, affecting approximately 3 million hospitalized patients in the United States, Europe, and Japan each year

AM Pharma will continue to lead Japan's key research and Phase 1 pharmacokinetics, safety and tolerability studies, and will be responsible for drug supply

Currently, this phase 3 study is evaluating the primary endpoint of all-cause mortality 28 days after treatment with ilofotase alfa at a dose of 1.

AM Pharma also included an exploratory cohort in the Phase 3 study to test ilofotase alfa in 100 patients with new coronavirus pneumonia (COVID-19) admitted to the intensive care unit due to respiratory problems and acute kidney injury.

Reference source: Kyowa Kirin to pay AM-Pharma up to $289M in licensing deal for Pfizer-rejected sepsis asset