(Taiwan) China Synthetic in US$821 million drug royalty agreement :: BiotechEast - Taiwan and China biotechnology, medical devices, pharmaceuticals, ^¤å½s×, ^¤å×§ï ::

(By Dan Jones, BiotechEast staff)

4 October, 2006
In the biggest drug royalty agreement ever involving a Taiwanese company, a U.S.-based subsidiary of China Synthetic Rubber reached a 15-year royalty sharing deal valued at up to US$821 million on Tuesday.

Synpac (North Carolina) Inc. of Research Triangle Park agreed on royalty payments with Genzyme Corp. of Cambridge, Mass. over Myozyme, a drug therapy used to fight Pompe disease.

The deal will pay Synpac between US$423 million and US$821 million over 15-years, depending on the success of the drug, China Synthetic said in a statement to the Taiwan Stock Exchange.

The company said Myozyme has received approved for use in the U.S. and Europe.

The drug itself consists of the human enzyme acid alpha-glucosidase (GAA), which is encoded by the most predominant haplotype of the gene, according to Genzyme.

Myozyme is produced using recombinant DNA technology in a Chinese hamster ovary cell line.

Synpac and Genzyme originally reached an agreement in March, 2000 giving Genzyme the exclusive rights to develop and commercialize Synpac's [Pompase.sup.TM] enzyme replacement therapy for Pompe disease.

Pompe disease damages the human heart, lungs and skeletal muscles due to the accumulation of glycogen in tissues caused by the lack of an enzyme needed to break down glycogen into glucose, the primary source of energy in the human body. The enzyme is called alpha-Glucosidase.

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