Takeda: Panitumumab will enhance oncology franchise

Takeda Pharmaceutical has said the regulatory progress made by its anti-cancer agent panitumumab (recombinant) will strengthen its product portfolio in oncology.

Pantiumumab is a fully-human monoclonal antibody which suppresses tumour growth by binding to epidermal growth factor, with the drug showing a low incidence of allergic during and after administration.

Takeda Pharmaceutical and Takdea Bio Development Centre made this announcement after the submission of a new drug application for the compound as a treatment for progressed or relapse colorectal cancer in Japan.

The drug was originally developed by Amgen and is marketed by the company as Vectibix in the EU.

Takeda Bio is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Takeda focused on the clinical devleopment of products licensed from Amgen to Takeda.

Masaomi Miyamoto, general manager of pharmaceutical development division of Takeda, said: “We believe the NDA submission of panitumumab will lead to the enhancement of our oncology franchise, one of our core therapeutic areas.”

He added that the company would make the drug available as early as possible to patients with colorectal cancer and healthcare providers as an alternative to existing chemotherapies.

Last month, Amgen announced updated data from two phase III trials of Vectibix administered in conjunction with standard chemotherapy as a treatment in earlier lines of metastatic colorectal cancer.