Ipsen SA’s $247 million buyout of Epizyme Inc., and the recent decision by Nordic Nanovector SA to dump its phase IIb program with CD-37-targeted Betalutin (177Lu lilotomab satetraxetan), served to highlight the hot space of relapsed/refractory follicular lymphoma, where bispecifics have been showing particular promise.
After its $247 million acquisition of Epizyme Inc., Ipsen SA will continue to shop for M&A prospects, said Ipsen CEO David Loew, noting that “the [company’s] firepower has not been absorbed in a significant fashion by this deal,” and the firm might undertake a larger transaction next time in oncology, rare diseases, or neurology.
Hutchmed Ltd. has struck a deal for Epizyme Inc.’s anticancer therapy Tazverik (tazemetostat) that could bring the latter up to $310 million. The agreement gives Hutchmed rights to research, develop, manufacture and commercialize Tazverik in greater China, which covers mainland China, Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan.
About six months after Epizyme Inc. won FDA clearance of Tazverik (tazemetostat) for epithelial sarcoma (ES), the firm scored accelerated approval in the larger indication of relapsed or refractory (r/r) follicular lymphoma (FL). Specifically, U.S. regulators cleared the methyltransferase inhibitor for adults whose tumors test positive for an EZH2 mutation who have received at least two prior systemic therapies and for those with no satisfactory alternative treatment options – language that “gives physicians a lot of flexibility to use their clinical judgement in how to best prescribe” the drug, CEO Robert Bazemore noted.
Matthew Ros, chief strategy and business officer for Epizyme Inc., said the company is “not providing specific guidance at the moment” about the sales force that will be deployed to market Tazverik (tazemetostat) in follicular lymphoma (FL), an indication for which U.S. regulators are considering the oral, first-in-class EZH2 inhibitor. “But I can assure you we’ve planned very thoughtfully” about the effort, he said. “That's always been a part of why we thought epithelioid sarcoma [ES] was such a strategically important component of the overall business strategy to get on-the-ground experience.” The sales force numbers 19 for now.