CANbridge Pharmaceuticals, Inc. and Puma Biotechnology, Inc. Agree to Terminate Nerlynx License Agreement and Settle Arbitration
February 25, 2021 at 06:23 pm EST
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CANbridge Pharmaceuticals, Inc. and Puma Biotechnology, Inc. have agreed to terminate their 2018 license agreement, in which Puma granted CANbridge exclusive rights to develop and commercialize NERLYNX (neratinib) in Greater China, and to settle their arbitration related to the license agreement. Simultaneous to the termination of the 2018 license agreement between CANbridge and Puma, Puma has agreed with Pierre Fabre, a global pharmaceutical and healthcare products company, to amend the terms of their 2019 license agreement, which grants Pierre Fabre exclusive rights to develop and commercialize NERLYNX within Europe, Turkey, Middle East and Africa, to also include Greater China, which includes mainland China, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macau. CANbridge and Pierre Fabre have also simultaneously entered into agreements pursuant to which CANbridge will provide Pierre Fabre certain transition services in Greater China and distribute and market NERLYNX for Pierre Fabre in Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwan until year end 2022, with an option to renew. Under the terms of the various agreements implementing this transaction among the three companies, Puma will receive an upfront payment of $50 million from Pierre Fabre in consideration for the amendment to their 2019 license agreement, and CANbridge will receive a one-time $20 million termination fee from Puma to return all rights to neratinib in Greater China back to Puma. Finally, Puma has agreed to dismiss the arbitration demand it filed on July 28, 2020 against CANbridge related to the parties’ 2018 license agreement, and as part of the settlement, CANbridge has agreed to dismiss its counterclaims against Puma.
Puma Biotechnology, Inc. is a biopharmaceutical company. The Company is focused on the development and commercialization of products to enhance cancer care. The Company's lead product is NERLYNX, an oral version of neratinib, for the treatment of HER2-positive breast cancer. Neratinib is a potent irreversible tyrosine kinase inhibitor (TKI) that blocks signal transduction through the epidermal growth factor receptors, HER1, HER2 and HER4 It also engaged in the development and commercialization of, alisertib. Alisertib is a selective, small molecule inhibitor of aurora kinase A that is designed to disrupt mitosis leading to apoptosis of rapidly proliferating tumor cells that are dependent on aurora kinase A. Its neratinib has clinical application in the treatment of several other cancers as well, including other tumor types that over-express or have a mutation in HER2 or epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR), such as breast cancer, cervical cancer, lung cancer, or other solid tumors.
PUMA BIOTECHNOLOGY, INC. 
