Pfizer partners on lung cancer drug in deal to speed Asian development

SFJ Pharmaceuticals has garnered some major league venture backing for its plan to partner with the biopharma industry and take the lead on developing promising new drugs for the Asian market. And it's on its way to start paying off. Today the biotech inked its second late-stage development pact with Pfizer ($PFE) for a new treatment for non-small cell lung cancer.

Just months after signing off on a late-stage plan for axitinib in Asia, Pfizer will hand over dacomitinib, an EGFR inhibitor that will be tested in advanced lung cancer patients in Asia and Europe. San Francisco-based SFJ will handle the Phase III study in its deal with Pfizer, with a chance to earn unspecified milestones and an earn-out from a marketed product.

Dacomitinib is an oral drug that attracted some positive attention during ASCO in the spring. In a study involving 92 patients, investigators reported that three of every four patients demonstrated a response to the drug, with an impressive mean progress-free survival rate of 17 months. The gold standard on cancer drugs is late-stage data on overall survival time. The drug inhibits a variety of proteins that spur cell division and the pharma giant has a number of studies underway to determine its overall potential.

The deal makes a lot of sense for Pfizer, which now has a partner to speed up Asian development work as it cuts back on its R&D budget. Pfizer has also remained heavily committed to cancer drug development and sees a big upside in emerging markets in Asia. Abingworth, Clarus and Fintech back SFJ. Last January SFJ reported that Clarus had invested $35 million in the company, which followed a $45 million start-up round back in 2009. 

"Non-small cell lung cancer remains a difficult disease to treat despite recent advances, and Pfizer is evaluating dacomitinib in NSCLC across lines of therapy and a range of histologies and molecular subtypes," says Garry Nicholson, the president and general manager of Pfizer Oncology. "By collaborating with SFJ on the continued clinical development of dacomitinib in this patient population, we hope to more immediately bring a new first-line therapy to patients in need."

- here's the press release