OREANDA-NEWS. UCB and R-Pharm, a privately owned pharmaceutical company based in Moscow, Russia, announced that they have entered into a world-wide exclusive license grant to R-Pharm to develop and commercialize olokizumab in all indications, including rheumatoid arthritis. Under the terms of this agreement, R-Pharm will develop, register, manufacture, distribute and book sales globally. UCB receives an upfront payment and is entitled to receive payments on development and commercialization milestones. Further details of the agreement are not disclosed.

“We at UCB are very satisfied with the positive phase 2 results for olokizumab. Following the prioritization of UCB's rich pipeline, we took the portfolio decision to partner olokizumab”, says Roch Doliveux, CEO UCB. “We are pleased that R-Pharm will provide a potential new treatment option for patients with immunology diseases.”

“We highly appreciate the confidence in us and do believe that the strategic collaboration with UCB will contribute to decrease of diseases burden. This kind of partnership is an example of experience and technology exchange for the patients' benefit globally”, noted Alexey Repik, President and Chairman R-Pharm.

September 2012, UCB announced top-line results from a phase 2b study of olokizumab (CDP6038) in adult patients suffering from rheumatoid arthritis (RA) having previously failed anti-TNF therapy. The primary objective of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of various doses and dose administration frequencies of olokizumab relative to placebo. This phase 2b study met its primary endpoint of demonstrating a significant reduction in the disease activity score at week 12 across all olokizumab dose groups relative to placebo. All doses of olokizumab demonstrated statistically significant improvement in disease activity score (DAS 28) (p

0.001) when compared with placebo. Olokizumab was well tolerated across all doses and demonstrated a safety profile consistent with known effects of IL-6 inhibitors.