Tuesday, July 26, 2016
Apricus Biosciences, Inc., a biopharmaceutical company advancing innovative medicines in urology and rheumatology, today announced that it has further expanded its exclusive distribution agreement with Ferring Pharmaceuticals (“Ferring”), for the commercialization of Vitaros®, Apricus’ novel topical on-demand treatment for erectile dysfunction (“ED”). This amendment is in addition to the in-place collaboration established with Ferring in Latin America in 2015, and the recently announced expansion for the United Kingdom. This expanded agreement includes Germany, Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Luxembourg, Norway, the Netherlands, Sweden, Switzerland, Malaysia, Indonesia, the Philippines, Thailand, Taiwan, Vietnam, Hong Kong, Singapore and Korea. Additionally, along with announcing the mutual termination of the Sandoz license, all three parties have entered into a services agreement whereby the existing marketing authorizations will be transferred to Ferring and Ferring will thereafter be responsible for marketing the brand and seeking additional country approvals.
Apricus will be eligible to receive an additional $3.6 million in upfront and pre-commercialization milestone payments, and up to an additional $1.5 million in launch milestone payments, for the expanded territory compared to Apricus’ prior contract with Ferring. In combination with the terms of the previously signed distribution agreement and amendment with Ferring, Apricus is eligible to receive up to $34 million in combined upfront, regulatory, launch and sales milestone payments, plus high single-digit to low double-digit royalties based on Ferring’s net sales in the territory.
“With the consolidation of these territories, coupled with the previously announced Latin America and UK transactions, we believe Ferring is well positioned to grow the Vitaros brand in key global markets as the first and only topical treatment for erectile dysfunction,” said Richard Pascoe, Chief Executive Officer of Apricus. “Ferring now has the ability to launch in the near term in up to eleven countries, and importantly, re-launch in Germany.” Mr. Pascoe continued, “We would like to thank Sandoz for its support of Vitaros and very much look forward to our expanded relationship with Ferring.”
Vitaros is a new entrant into the ED treatment market, offering a product profile making it appealing to certain patients. Vitaros is a topical ED cream that delivers rapid onset (generally 5-30 minutes) and treatment duration of approximately one to two hours. Vitaros’ local delivery provides an alternative for patients, but particularly those with complications that preclude them from using the orally delivered systemic treatments or who prefer to avoid the injectable forms of alprostadil.
Source : ir.apricusbio.com
