Baxter and Lipoxen sign blood clot partnership

Lipoxen has announced that it has entered into a global agreement with Baxter for the development and licensing of novel, longer-acting blood clotting factors.

Under the terms of the agreement Baxter will immediately pay Lipoxen $1 million (0.51 million pounds), with payments of up to $75 million alongside royalties on product sales payable upon achievement of clinical, regulatory and commercial milestones.

In August 2005, the companies announced a one-year research evaluation aiming to link proprietary proteins from Baxter with the PolyXen drug delivery technology form Lipoxen.

The combination of PolyXen with blood clotting factors aims to reduce the frequency of injections for patients with haemophilia and similar disorders by lengthening active life and enhancing pharmacokinetic profile.

Hartmut J Ehrilich, vice president of global research and development of bioscience at Baxter, said: “Our agreement with Lipoxen furthers Baxter’s legacy of scientific innovation and leveraging partnerships in the area of blood-free recombinant protein processing.”

He added that enabling a longer duration of blood-clotting treatment was important in the analysis of haemophilia therapy for both patients and doctors.

In October, Baxter announced the sale of its transfusion therapies business to the Texas Pacific group for $540 million.