Nuron Biotech Licenses HibTITER® Vaccine to Mitsubishi Tanabe Pharma Corporation for Japanese Market

EXTON, Pa.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Nuron Biotech Inc., a specialty biologics and vaccines company, today announced that it has licensed its HibTITER® vaccine to Mitsubishi Tanabe Pharma Corporation (Head Office: Osaka, Japan; “MTPC”) for commercialization in the Japanese market for both the single entity and for combination product use. Under the terms of the agreement MTPC will be responsible for any necessary development and regulatory approval costs, pay undisclosed upfront, pre-commercial milestones and pay Nuron Biotech significant royalties on commercial sales in Japan.

“MTPC is one of Japan’s largest and most respected pharmaceutical companies, and we believe they have both the experience and market access to bring HibTITER® to patients and clinicians across Japan.”

“The HibTITER® vaccine still represents a considerable global opportunity, especially in markets like Japan, where there is only one approved vaccine for Haemophilus influenza type b (Hib) bacteria, which is a potential life-threatening illness,” commented Shankar Musunuri, Ph.D., MBA, Chief Executive Officer and Founder of Nuron Biotech. “This agreement provides us with additional resources to accelerate our re-launch strategy of this first-in-class vaccine in the U.S. market.”

“HibTITER®’s easy to use liquid formulation, adjuvant free, with a track record of success in virtually eliminating Haemophilus in the United States makes it a great addition to our pediatric vaccine franchise,” said Masayuki Mitsuka, Ph.D., Board Director, Executive Officer, Global Product Strategy at MTPC.

Richard Dinovitz, Vice President, Marketing and Business Development at Nuron Biotech continued, “MTPC is one of Japan’s largest and most respected pharmaceutical companies, and we believe they have both the experience and market access to bring HibTITER® to patients and clinicians across Japan.”

Nuron acquired HibTITER® (Haemophilus b Conjugate Vaccine (Diphtheria CRM197 Protein Conjugate)) from Wyeth LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Pfizer Inc., for the U.S. and many other markets, including Japan and Korea. HibTITER® was one of the first glycoconjugate technology vaccines for humans on the market and was responsible for greatly reducing the incidence of Hib disease in children^[1]. Hib vaccines are now part of the CDC Recommended Childhood and Adolescent Immunization Schedule with over 10 million annual doses administered each year in the U.S. alone. Nuron is currently executing the re-launch strategy to launch this vaccine in the U.S.

About Nuron Biotech

Nuron Biotech’s vision is to bring innovative and improved biologics to market for the better health of patients. Nuron’s management team consists of proven veteran industry executives who have made significant contributions in developing, launching and managing the life cycle of various biologics.

Nuron is currently working on products in several disease areas including central nervous system (CNS) and vaccines. www.nuronbiotech.com

About Mitsubishi Tanabe Pharma Corporation

Mitsubishi Tanabe Pharma Corporation is a research-driven pharmaceutical company based in Japan, specializing in research, development and marketing of globally competitive pharmaceutical products focused on autoimmune diseases, diabetes, kidney diseases, and other disease areas that respond to unmet medical needs. Mitsubishi Tanabe Pharma contributes to the healthier lives of people around the world through the creation of pharmaceuticals. www.mt-pharma.co.jp/e

[1] Peltola H, Kilpi T, Anttila M. Rapid disappearance of Haemophilus influenzae type b meningitis after routine childhood immunisation with conjugate vaccines. Lancet. 1992; 340:592–4. [PubMed]