Immupharma to make 'blockbuster' lupus treatment available

Pharmaceutical firm ImmuPharma on Friday signed an agreement for a managed access programme (MAP) for its “ground-breaking” new lupus treatment, Lupuzor.

The MAP will see as many as 500 sufferers of the condition gain access to Lupuzor for a minimum of two years, allowing the company to continue collecting data on the treatment after it missed its primary endpoint in a late stage study earlier this year.

Tim McCarthy, chairman of ImmuPharma, said: "In the medium-term, we remain focused on achieving the full regulatory approval of Lupuzor which we believe has the potential to be a ground-breaking drug for Lupus patients and in turn has blockbuster potential in commercial terms."

The AIM-traded company also reported that its Nucant cancer treatment has yielded “promising results” in two phase I safety and dose-finding studies and a licence agreement for the treatment is expected to be signed with oncology specialist Incanthera.

This would likely see Incanthera pay an upfront licence fee of £1.0m in shares and cover all of the development costs for the Nucant programme, with future commercial revenues shared equally.

Finally, the company confirmed its decision to sell its Ureka subsidiary, divesting the Bordeaux-based business while retaining an interest in case its treatments receive future commercial success.

"The board has been focused on delivering a business strategy which provides the optimum route forward for ImmuPharma and its shareholders, based on its current assets, resources and know-how. We believe that the strategy outlined today provides the most effective route to create shareholder value going forward."

ImmuPharma’s shares were down 0.86% at 20.10p at 0850 BST.