Juniper acquires Helsinn cancer drug

The Helsinn Group, based in the canton of Lugano, and Juniper Biologics, a Singapore-based pharmaceutical company focused on the research, development, and marketing of innovative therapies, have signed an exclusive licensing agreement. According to a press release, this relates to the development and marketing of the active substance infigratinib in Australia, New Zealand, Southeast Asia, and certain markets in the Middle East and Africa.

The orally administered therapeutic is intended to treat adults with previously treated, inoperable, locally advanced or metastatic bile duct cancer. It received accelerated approval from the US regulatory authority, the FDA, in 2021 under the name Truseltiq. Furthermore, infigratinib has received conditional approval from Health Canada and provisional approval from the Australian Therapeutic Goods Association. Further approvals in the USA, Canada and Australia depend on confirmatory studies.

The acquisition of infigratinib is an important addition to Juniper’s oncology portfolio according to its CEO, Raman Singh. He adds that this active substance will “help advance the treatment of patients in markets where there remains an unmet patient need.”

Helsinn’s renewed strategic focus is on developing equally highly innovative oncologic active substances according to the CEO of the family company founded in 1976, Giorgio Calderari. He adds: “This agreement with Juniper is another example of our Fully Integrated Targeted Therapy (FITT) strategy in action as we continue to widen our network of partners for infigratinib.”