>>BRISBANE, Calif., April 8 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- InterMune, Inc. (Nasdaq: ITMN - news) announced today that it has licensed worldwide rights, excluding Japan, Korea and Taiwan, to develop and commercialize pirfenidone for all fibrotic diseases, including renal, liver and pulmonary fibrosis.
Pirfenidone is an orally active small molecule drug that appears to inhibit collagen synthesis, down regulate production of multiple cytokines and block fibroblast proliferation and stimulation in response to cytokines. Pirfenidone, which has demonstrated activity in multiple fibrotic indications, is currently in Phase II clinical development for fibrotic diseases of the lung, kidney and liver.
InterMune signed an exclusive license agreement with Marnac, Inc., a privately held biopharmaceutical company in Dallas, Texas, and with their co-licensor KDL Gmbh in Basel, Switzerland, for the rights to pirfenidone in exchange for an up-front cash payment and future milestone and royalty payments.
``This license continues the expansion of InterMune's portfolio of promising anti-fibrotic agents so that we can become a leader in this therapeutic category,'' said W. Scott Harkonen, M.D., President and CEO of InterMune. ``We intend to develop pirfenidone for a broad range of potential indications, enhancing our efforts to deliver new treatment options for patients suffering from life-threatening fibrotic diseases.''
``We are extremely pleased to license pirfenidone to InterMune because it has the focus, resources and breadth of development capabilities necessary to maximize the potential of pirfenidone as a commercial, anti-fibrotic product,'' said Solomon Margolin, M.S., Ph.D., President of Marnac.
About InterMune's Anti-fibrotic Programs
InterMune is developing Actimmune (Interferon gamma 1-b) as a treatment for fibrotic diseases. The company is currently conducting a Phase III clinical trial of Actimmune in IPF, a debilitating and usually fatal treatment for which there is no effective therapy. The company expects to report Phase III study results by the end of 2002.
InterMune is also conducting a Phase II study of Actimmune for the treatment of severe liver fibrosis, or cirrhosis, caused by hepatitis C virus (HCV). The objective of the study, called AEGIS (Anti-fibrotic Efficacy Gamma Interferon Study), is to evaluate the safety and anti-fibrotic activity of Actimmune in HCV patients who have failed standard antiviral therapy.<<
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