Singapore-based biotechnology firm Aslan Pharmaceuticals, which specializes in immunotherapy and targeted agents for cancer forms prevalent in Asia, has agreed to cooperate with South Korea’s Hyundai Pharma Co. on developing an Aslan drug, varlitinib, to treat Korean patients suffering from cholangiocarcinoma (CCA).

The aggressive form of bile duct cancer has no approved therapy and a very poor prognosis.

The drug with the working name of ASLAN001 is claimed to be a best-in-class small molecule pan-HER inhibitor. Under the terms of the agreement, the two companies plan to conduct clinical trials to study efficacy. To this end, they together will submit an Investigational New Drug Application to the Korean Ministry of Food and Drug Safety to begin the trials before the end of this year.

Hyundai will make an upfront payment to Aslan as well as paying for development milestones and royalties on sales, if the drug is successful. The Korean company will also retain first rights of negotiation to develop and commercialize varlitinib for treatment of gastric and breast cancer in South Korea, with the Singapore drugmaker sharing marketing rights.

Aslan will continue development of the drug in a Phase A/B study begun in December 2014 for second-line metastatic breast cancer across Asia. In August of this year, the company won orphan drug status from the US Food and Drug Administration for its developmental product in CCA.