Tarveda Therapeutics and SciClone Pharmaceuticals Expand Partnership by Entering into a License Agreement for HSP90-PI3K Miniature Drug Conjugates in Greater China

WATERTOWN, Mass.

Tarveda Therapeutics, Inc. (“Tarveda”), a clinical stage biopharmaceutical company developing a new class of potent and selective precision oncology medicines, which it refers to as Pentarin® miniature drug conjugates, today announced that the company has entered into a collaboration and license agreement with SciClone Pharmaceuticals (Holdings) Limited (“SciClone”). Pursuant to the license agreement, Tarveda has granted an exclusive license permitting SciClone to develop, manufacture and commercialize a preclinical-stage product portfolio of miniature drug conjugates that consist of a phosphoinositide 3-kinase (PI3K) inhibitor (undisclosed) payload moiety, a linker and a heat shock protein 90 (HSP90) binding moiety in Greater China, including Mainland China, Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan.

This license agreement builds on Tarveda and SciClone’s existing exclusive licensing agreement signed in March 2020 to partner in Greater China for PEN-866, a miniature drug conjugate which is designed to bind to the activated form of HSP90 and accumulate and release its potent topoisomerase 1 inhibitor (SN-38) payload in solid tumors. Under the terms of the expanded license agreement, SciClone will pay Tarveda an upfront fee, make an equity investment and provide additional payments upon achievement of various pre-determined development, regulatory approval and commercial milestones. Further, Tarveda will be eligible to receive royalties based on net sales of the licensed product portfolio in Greater China.

“We are excited to expand our relationship with SciClone Pharmaceuticals,” said Brian Roberts, President and Chief Executive Officer of Tarveda. “Our organizations have been collaborating closely on PEN-866 with full alignment on our collective goal of bringing a novel treatment to patients with various solid tumors. SciClone Pharmaceuticals has proven to be a reliable and outstanding partner with deep product, regulatory and commercialization experience in Greater China and we are thrilled to broaden our partnership beyond PEN-866 to also include our pre-clinical PI3K miniature drug conjugates.”

Zhao Hong, President and Chief Executive Officer of SciClone commented, “Tarveda’s Pentarin® HSP90 binding miniature drug conjugate platform offers a promising novel approach to the development of precision oncology medicines. Since March 2020, SciClone and Tarveda have established a positive relationship of favorable interactions and mutual trust through co-developing PEN-866. We are delighted to broaden the collaboration and strategic partnership with Tarveda and we believe the closer relationship will further strengthen the complementary advantages of both parties in pre-clinical research, clinical development and other aspects. We are looking forward to advancing research and development of the licensed product portfolio together with Tarveda to bolster our innovative pipeline of miniature drug conjugates and address significant unmet medical needs across a broad spectrum of tumor types as soon as we can.”

In a preclinical study evaluating an HSP90 binding miniature drug conjugate with a pan-PI3K payload in solid tumors, the licensed product portfolio demonstrated rapid and sustained tumor accumulation of the conjugate, deep pathway inhibition, and superior efficacy than the PI3K inhibitor on its own. If proven in human clinical trials, this approach has the potential to deliver improved efficacy of this important class of inhibitors, with applicability across a wide range of tumor types.

About SciClone Pharmaceuticals:

The Company is a biopharmaceutical company with an integrated platform for product development and commercialization. The Company strategically focuses on some of the largest and fast growing therapeutic areas with unmet medical needs in China, primarily including oncology and severe infection. With its product development and commercialization strength, the Company has established a good track record in terms of balanced and high-quality products on the market in key therapeutic areas and in developing and commercializing portfolios of pipeline products with better potential.

For more information about the Company, please visit: www.sciclone.com.

About Tarveda Therapeutics®, Inc.

Tarveda Therapeutics is a clinical stage biopharmaceutical company developing a new class of potent and selective precision oncology medicines, which it refers to as Pentarin® miniature drug conjugates, for the treatment of patients with various solid tumor malignancies. Tarveda’s Pentarin® miniature drug conjugates are designed to deeply penetrate solid tumors, selectively bind to the desired tumor targets and accumulate their anti-cancer payloads directly in tumor cells. The payload is retained and then released over time causing the anti-cancer payload to become active in the tumor.

Tarveda’s first clinical program, PEN-866, is the initial candidate from its Heat Shock Protein 90 (“HSP90”) binding miniature drug conjugate platform. HSP90 is a molecular chaperone that is highly activated in the harsh tumor environment, but which remains relatively dormant in normal tissue. Up to 75% of solid tumors have activated HSP90, and small molecule drugs that target activated HSP90 have desirable binding properties in solid tumors. PEN-866 is a miniature drug conjugate that selectively binds to the activated form of HSP90 linked to a topoisomerase 1 inhibitor (SN-38), a potent anti-cancer payload. PEN-866 has commenced its Phase 2a trial in various types of solid tumors. In addition to PEN-866, Tarveda is developing additional miniature drug conjugates on its HSP90 binding miniature drug conjugate platform to target other promising anti-cancer payloads such as kinase inhibitors and radioisotopes to solid tumors. For more information regarding Tarveda, go to: http://www.tarvedatx.com.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210916005821/en/