Genta Inc., the biopharma company with a wide-ranging portfolio focused primarily on DNA/RNA and Small Molecule medicines, announced a strategic alliance with MedCI LLC, the well-known life-science consulting services company, with the goal of finding licensing partners for Genta’s small molecule oncology compound tesetaxel.
Part of Genta’s overall oncology approach, tesetaxel is the No. 1 taxane for oral delivery currently under clinical development. The compound has shown good results in several Phase 2 trials, eliminating the infusion reactions associated with other competing taxanes and reducing the nerve damage seen with other taxanes to negligible status.
Genta’s Business Development initiatives to market oral tesetaxel and to license oral gallium in Japan, China and Korea have secured a fourth member for the team with the inclusion of MedCI, which will develop the commercial relationship with South Korean pharmaceutical companies.
The overarching goal of the strategic alliance is to cultivate co-development and commercialization opportunities and to quickly finalize a deal.
Tesetaxel offers improvements to cancer patients in terms of safety, convenience and results. With more than 280 patients from across the globe undergoing Phase 1 &2 clinical trials, Genta has plans for a massive expansion of the clinical development program for tesetaxel into several new indications, and seeks territorial and global development partners.
Lead partner at MedCI, Manish Singhal, M.D. expressed delight at being selected by Genta to “lead the tesetaxel licensing discussions in South Korea”, saying MedCI would be able to capitalize on “existing relationships within the Korean pharmaceutical industry” and detailed knowledge of the business to really sell the obvious “significant business potential of tesetaxel” to produce big results for Genta.
Genta COO Lloyd Sanders noted that the basis for the Company’s “targeted partnership efforts” in East Asia were due in large part to the fact that “gastric cancer is the most commonly diagnosed neoplastic disease” in the region.
Sanders noted that, while continuing with “productive discussions with a number of potential partners in Korea”, the expertise of the MedCI would prove indispensible in creating a “productive development and commercial relationship on this core initiative”.
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