Helsinn, a Swiss pharmaceutical group focused on building quality cancer care products, together with Blanver Farmoquímica e Farmacêutica S.A., a Brazilian company focused on innovative products with high quality medicines and active pharmaceutical ingredients, committed to expand patient access, and Laboratorio Varifarma SA, a company focused on complex therapies and orphan diseases, and devoted to improving the patient’s quality of life today announce they have signed exclusive distribution and licensing agreements for Pracinostat in South America.
Under the terms of the agreements, São Paulo-based Blanver will register, promote, distribute and commercialize Pracinostat in Brazil, while Varifarma, located in Buenos Aires, will cover Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Paraguay, Peru, and Uruguay. Helsinn will retain all international development rights, including clinical development activities, and the supply of Pracinostat.
Blanver and Varifarma recently agreed a strategic alliance in Latin America, in order to create a portfolio of medicines for the treatment of diverse pathologies, including hematology and oncology.
Pracinostat is a pan histone deacetylase inhibitor. The compound is currently under development in a multi-national phase III trial in combination with Azacitidine for the treatment of adult patients with newly diagnosed acute myeloid leukemia (AML) who are unfit for intensive induction chemotherapy; Pracinostat is also being tested in an open label phase II study in combination with Azacitidine for the treatment of naïve patients with high risk myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS).
Riccardo Braglia, Helsinn Group Vice Chairman and CEO, commented: “We’re delighted to have signed these agreements with two expert partners in Latin America, with the local market experience to help to broaden the potential reach of Pracinostat to the patients who need it most. A key factor when choosing our partners is to make sure they share our principles, values and ethics and they have a focus on quality, results orientation and social responsibility – both Blanver and Varifarma share this vision and we look forward to working with them.”
Sergio Frangioni, Blanver Group CEO, commented: “Innovation is part of Blanver’s DNA, with this characteristic, we are proud to bring Pracinostat and honored to have Helsinn as our partner in Brazil, where we share the same values and strategic vision, bringing innovative treatments that will surely benefit patients.”
Marcelo Conti, Laboratorio Varifarma Director, commented: “It is a great satisfaction for Varifarma to have been chosen to represent Helsinn and its product Pracinostat, for Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Paraguay, Peru and Uruguay. We take this challenge with great commitment and the responsibility we use to work with. Sharing the same values and ethics, we look forward to start a successful venture together providing care and novel products to more patients in our region.”