CTI adds Pixantrone to Its oncology drug pipeline

Cell Therapeutics (CTI) and Novuspharma have signed a definitive merger agreement providing for the merger of Novuspharma into CTI. It will mark the third cancer-related product addition for CTI since 1998.

CTI, a Seattle, US-based public biopharmaceutical company, markets Trisenox in the US and Europe and is developing Xyotax (CT-2103), which is in pivotal phase III trials for lung cancer.

Novuspharma, a Milan, Italy-based public bio-pharmaceutical company, is developing Pixantrone, a potential best-in-class anthracycline in phase III clini-cal trials for lymphoma. Pixantrone is expected to benefit from CTI's strong hematology/oncology sales and marketing franchise in the US. In addition, Novuspharma brings to CTI complementary expertise in anticancer drug development, which can be traced to its background as part of the oncology drug devel-opment division of Boehringer Mannheim and Hoffmann-La Roche. The transaction is expected to close in the fourth quarter of 2003.

Preclinical and clinical studies suggest that Pixantrone, a drug candidate discovered and in development by Novuspharma, may exhibit significantly lower cardiotoxicity and greater activity than other marketed anthracyclines, one of the most widely-used classes of chemotherapy agents. These potential benefits create the opportunity for an important advance in the treatment of cancer with anthracycline-containing regimens. Since the launch of Trisenox in the US in 2000 and in Europe in 2002, CTI has built a hematology/oncology focused sales force, which could be leveraged to market Pixantrone. Pixantrone is expected to reach the market in 2006 and to achieve potential peak US sales of $150m.