Lonza to Manufacture Oasmia’s Ovarian Cancer Drug
Swiss CDMO Lonza has signed an agreement for the large-scale manufacture of the main drug intermediate for Swedish specialty pharma Oasmia’s investigational cancer drug candidate Cantrixil.
In development for treating late-stage ovarian cancer, Cantrixil has successfully completed a Phase I clinical trial and Oasmia is now preparing to start Phase II trials. Oasmia licensed the drug from Australian pharma Kazia last year.
Under terms of the deal, Lonza will provide kilogram-scale synthesis, purification and stability testing of Cantrixil, and deliver cGMP batches of drug substance for clinical supply. The CDMO will start manufacturing the drug substance this month at its facility in Nansha, China.
Lonza announced earlier this month that it had completed an expansion at Nansha, extending the capabilities and capacity of development laboratories and kilogram-scale cGMP manufacturing laboratories for the clinical supply of highly potent APIs.
“The manufacture of Cantrixil is planned to be performed in three steps and this agreement is the first and most crucial step in us securing the clinical drug supply for its development,” said Oasmia’s chief technical officer Kai Wilkinson.
Separately, Oasmia is planning to upgrade its R&D laboratory in Uppsala for formulations intended to treat cancers. The upgrade will provide greater capacity to handle formulations, such as Cantrixil and others using Oasmia’s proprietary drug delivery platform that the company said is designed to improve solubility, efficacy and safety. As well as Cantrixil, Oasmia is also developing docetaxel micellar for treating advanced prostate cancer.
Author: Elaine Burridge, Freelance Journalist
