Sirona Biochem Announces Wanbang Biopharmaceuticals to Proceed to Pre-IND Testing and Receipt of $300,000 USD Milestone Payment
Vancouver, British Columbia – June 13, 2016 – Sirona Biochem Corp. (TSX-V: SBM) (Frankfurt: ZSB) (Xetra: ZSB) (the “Company”) today announced that Wanbang Biopharmaceuticals has confirmed they will be proceeding with studies to prepare for Investigational New Drug (IND) filing for the anti-diabetic SGLT2 Inhibitor, SBM-TFC-039. IND filing and approval is required to proceed to clinical testing. Sirona Biochem has received a milestone payment of US$ 300,000 from Wanbang Biopharmaceuticals.
The set of studies, which will comprise of CMC (chemistry manufacturing and controls), sample preparation and any additional toxicology and pharmacokinetic studies, will be in accordance with the China Food and Drug Administration for enabling IND filing. Successful IND filing will result in a US$ 500,000 payment to Sirona Biochem as part of the US$ 9.5M in upfront and milestone payments according to the license contract with Wanbang Biopharmaceuticals.
“Based on promising results in our first set of studies, we will move the drug to the next phase and prepare for clinic trials,” said Ning Yuan, Vice President Business Development at Wanbang Biopharmaceuticals. “We are very pleased with the results and the productive collaboration with Sirona Biochem.”
“The advancement into pre-IND means that our partner is close to moving into the clinic with our SGLT2 inhibitor,” said Dr. Howard Verrico, CEO of Sirona Biochem. “This next step represents a significant achievement on this project as we continue toward commercialization in China and strengthen our negotiation position on global partnering. We look forward to continued success.” |