FutureChem, a developer of radiopharmaceuticals, has regained the European rights to its prostate cancer diagnostic "FC303." After terminating its joint development and technology transfer agreement with its former European partner, the company will again pursue entry into the European market by signing a new partnership.
FutureChem said on the 5th that it reached an agreement with its local partner, with which it had signed a joint development and technology transfer agreement for FC303, to terminate the contract early and regain the related rights.
FC303 is a PET (positron emission tomography) diagnostic radiopharmaceutical that targets prostate-specific membrane antigen (PSMA), which is highly expressed in prostate cancer cells, to visualize cancer lesions.
FutureChem said it had previously signed a joint development and technology transfer agreement with IASON (now Curium Austria), but after IASON was acquired by Curium, a global radiopharmaceutical company, the business environment changed.
According to the company, the phase 3 clinical trial of FC303 in Europe had been delayed, and FutureChem requested early termination of the contract and the return of rights to accelerate development. The two sides agreed, after discussions, to terminate the contract on the condition that FutureChem bears the FC303 clinical-related expenses incurred to date in Europe.
FutureChem is currently in talks with new partners to enter the European market. The company said, "We are coordinating detailed contract terms with two partners in Europe," and added, "We are also reviewing ways to streamline local clinical procedures and speed up approval by submitting clinical data obtained in Korea to the European Medicines Agency (EMA)."