Serono pays out milestone for cancer drug

Serono, the Swiss pharmaceutical company, has paid out a $10 million (5.1 million pounds) milestone fee for the development of adecatumumab (MT201), an anticancer drug developed by Micromet.

The payment comes following the completion of two clinical trials in phase II development of the drug – one for the treatment of patients with metastatic breast cancer, the other for prostate cancer.

Adecatumumab is a human monoclonal antibody designed to target the epithelial cell adhesion molecule, known as EpCAM, which is over-expressed in some types of tumour cells.

The results of the two clinical trials, published in October, showed that it did not meet the primary endpoint for the studies in either case – although Serono stated that the secondary data obtained could provide an insight into how the drug could best be used.

Professor Axel Heidenreich, head of the urological clinic from the University Hospital of Cologne, commented: “The fact that these effects were seen in patients with high EpCAM expression further validates the concept of adecatumumab being a true targeted therapy.”

The drug was “well tolerated” during both trials.

In September, Merck KGaA, the German pharmaceutical company, announced that it had agreed to acquire Serono – a move Merck KGaA describes as “strategically compelling”.