Oracea's European drug rights sold to Galderma

German biotech company MediGene AG has sold the European rights of a dermatological product to treat rosacea to US firm Galderma Laboratories.

By signing the contract, Galderma commits to making an immediate payment of Euro 8m to MediGene AG. Medigene is expected to receive successive milestone payments totalling up to €32m.

Oracea is the first orally administered, systemically delivered drug that has received approval from the US Food and Drug Administration for the treatment of the inflammatory lesions of rosacea in adult patients.

The sale of the rights of Oracea represents a major step in the implementation of MediGene's strategy of focusing on the areas of oncology and immunology.

In April 2008, the European regulatory authority EMEA recommended granting of marketing authorisation for this drug. On the basis of convincing clinical data with EndoTAG-1 for the treatment of pancreatic cancer, MediGene decided to focus the company's business area significantly. All research and development activities as well as the planned sales and marketing activities of the company will be focused on the two areas oncology and immunology.

Dr Frank Mathias, chief operating officer of MediGene AG, said: "The sale of the dermatological product Oracea is a very important step towards focusing our company. We achieve a significantly higher price for this product than that was paid when acquiring it. The sales revenues achieved with Oracea will help us pushing our promising development projects."