Medivir’s CEO: “I am proud to see our research contribute to a global solution”
Antibiotic resistance is a growing global crisis, increasing the urgency for effective treatments. While Medivir now focuses on cancer therapies, it has a legacy in antimicrobial research. This was highlighted by Infex Therapeutics licensing agreement with Venus Remedies Ltd for the development of MET-X in India – a compound developed from a research program that Medivir outlicensed in 2017. We reached out to Medivir’s CEO Jens Lindberg for a comment.
MET-X, originally developed from Medivir’s Metallo-β-Lactamase (MBLI) programme, is a broad-spectrum metallo-beta-lactamase (MBL) inhibitor designed to counteract bacterial resistance to beta-lactam antibiotics. The recently announced agreement between Infex Therapeutics and Venus Remedies Ltd marks a new step in tackling antimicrobial resistance (AMR) in India, where resistance rates to the beta-lactam antibiotic meropenem are alarmingly high; 62-87 per cent.
A new step in combating AMR
Under the agreement, Venus Remedies will conduct a phase I clinical trial in India, testing MET-X in combination with meropenem in healthy volunteers. If successful, a phase II/III trial will follow, focusing on Complicated Urinary Tract Infections (cUTIs), a serious hospital-acquired infection with limited treatment options due to resistant bacterial strains.
Dr. Peter Jackson, CEO of Infex Therapeutics, emphasised the significance of this partnership:
“The collaboration will ensure MET-X becomes our second clinical stage drug programme, and as the trials will be conducted to international standards, we will be in a strong position to make progress with the MET-X programme with regulatory filings in the UK, US, Europe and other international markets. MET-X has shown best-in-class performance in preclinical studies and could be a game-changing treatment for those suffering from Gram negative drug-resistant MBL infections.”
Pawan Chaudhary, Chairman and Managing Director, Venus Remedies added:
“The in-licensing of MET-X is a major step forward in providing breakthrough solutions for drug-resistant infections, a serious threat to India’s healthcare ecosystem”.
With MET-X demonstrating best-in-class performance in preclinical studies, both parties have high hopes that it, though still being in an early stage of development, will become a game-changer in the fight against drug-resistant infections.
Medivir’s focus on oncology
Medivir primarily focuses on cancer treatments and recently presented positive final results from the phase Ib/IIa study in combining fostrox with Lenvima for the treatment of advanced liver cancer. The findings, presented at the EASL Liver Cancer Summit, demonstrated promising efficacy and safety.
BioStock had the opportunity to talk with Dr. Jeff Evans, one of the study investigators, as he shared his insights on the results directly from EASL in Paris. Watch the interview here.
The next step for Medivir is a phase IIb study, and according to the company, it is already attracting top investigators and leading hospitals to participate. Read more here.
Medivir’s continued role in AMR innovation
Despite its focus on fostrox, Medivir’s early-stage research in antimicrobial resistance continues to generate value. The company’s expertise in beta-lactamase inhibitors has laid the foundation for MET-X, positioning it as a contributor to tackling one of the most pressing global health challenges and designated a critical priority by the World Health Organisation, WHO.
Since Medivir originally outlicensed MET-X to the AMR Centre (now Infex Therapeutics) in 2017, it remains entitled to a share of potential future revenue from MET-X. Infex Therapeutics will receive license fee payments upon milestone completion and tiered double-digit royalties on net sales of MET-X/meropenem in India. Thus, as the partnership with Infex progresses, Medivir could potentially benefit from a successful commercialisation of MET-X.
Comments from the Medivirs CEO
BioStock contacted Medivir’s CEO Jens Lindberg for a comment on the new developments with MET-X.
How could this deal impact Medivir financially in terms of potential revenue sharing?
– We have a revenue share agreement with Infex Therapeutics and will as a result receive a share of any revenue Infex Therapeutics receives. This could be in the form of milestone payments, royalties on sales revenue or other payments received by Infex as a result of partnering agreements. This is an encouraging first step in the partnering efforts by Infex.
What role did Medivir’s research play in the early development of MET-X?
– MET-X stems from the research stage metallo-β-lactamase inhibitor (MBLI) program outlicensed to Infex (previously AMRCentre). As part of the agreement, Infex has further developed compounds derived from this program, with the key aim of overcoming resistance to widely used antibiotics. It is now highly encouraging to see that a compound originating from a – – Medivir research program is one step closer to contributing to one of the most important threats in our healthcare system.
What are your thoughts on the growing challenge of AMR, and how important are partnerships like this in tackling the crisis?
– The challenge of AMR varies significantly across regions and countries and local partnerships will be important to ensure appropriate development. Similarly, local funding solutions will be critical to enable uptake of drugs to combat AMR. As a result, local partnerships with local development efforts like this one, will positively impact the likelihood of success for future commercial success of MET-X.
The content of BioStock’s news and analyses is independent but the work of BioStock is to a certain degree financed by life science companies. The above article concerns a company from which BioStock has received financing.
