Clinigen has expanded its agreement with Eisai to exclusively market Halaven, Fycompa and Lenvima in 10 African countries.
The new deal was built on Clinigen obtaining South African marketing rights to breast cancer med Halaven (eribulin) in late 2016 and to anti-epileptic drug Fycompa (perampanel) in 2017.
Now, the two companies have added Lenvima (lenvatinib) to the list and grew Clinigen’s distribution rights of those three meds in Namibia, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Ghana, Nigeria, Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania, pending local regulatory approval. Lenvima, approved in Europe for adult patients with differentiated thyroid carcinoma refractory to radioactive iodine, is not currently licensed in any of the 10 countries.
“We are able to leverage our extensive distribution network in the region and local expertise to enable access to these important medicines,” Benjamin Miny, Clinigen’s managing director of South Africa, said in a statement.
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The British specialty pharmaceutical and services company expanded its Asian, African and Australian operations back in 2015 through the acquisition of Link Healthcare, and the Halaven licensing agreement with Eisai became the first of such deals after the buyout. But Clinigen’s relationship with Eisai dated even before that. In 2013, Eisai tapped Clinigen’s managed access capabilities to set up a program for Fycompa in Germany following Eisai’s decision to suspend its own Fycompa commercial activities in the country.
Clinigen has formed or maintained relationships with several Japanese pharmas, including Mitsubishi Tanabe and Shionogi. It also recently bought Japan’s largest supplier of unlicensed medicines, International Medical Management Corporation, strengthening its footprint in Japan and its leading position in the global managed access market.