Biopharmaceutical company Micromet Inc. (MITI), Tuesday, said it signed a deal with Swiss company Lonza AG for manufacturing its investigational drug blinatumomab, currently being evaluated against various blood cancers.
Under the terms of the agreement, Lonza will manufacture blinatumomab for clinical trials and develop the commercial scale process for marketing the same, if so requested by Micromet.
Bethesda, Maryland-based Micromet said it controls the worldwide rights to develop and commercialize blinatumomab after re-acquiring MedImmune's remaining rights to the product candidate on November 4, 2009.
Blinatumomab, or MT103, is Micromet's investigational drug, which proved effective against acute lymphoblastic leukemia, reaching primary end-points in Phase II trials.
The compound also showed significant clincal activity in an ongoing Phase I study in treating non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, according to the company.
Developed under the company's BiTE Antibody platform, blinatumomab is designed to destroy the body's tumor cells by activating immune reactions against it, primarily employing killer T cells.
Micromet's preclinical product pipeline includes several BiTE antibodies, which it develops under collaborations with leading players like Sanofi-aventis, Bayer Schering Pharma, Nycomed, Merck Serono, and MedImmune.
MITI finished Monday's regular trading sessions down 3 cents or 0.43% at $6.87 on the Nasdaq. In pre-market trading, shares gained 5.53% or 38 cents. currently at $7.25
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