"By the end of 2012, we will probably sign another strategic agreement, but not necessarily with Baxter," said David Tsur, Kamada Ltd. (TASE:KMDA) CEO, at the company's board of directors meeting. Kamada has a strategic development agreement with Baxter for an intravenous emphysema drug.
In addition, Kamada has a wide variety of products currently being developed. The leading one is an emphysema inhalation product, which is currently in phase II/III clinical trials in Europe. Kamada is also developing an inhalation medicine to treat cystic fibrosis, bronchitis and COPD, and manufacturing and marketing products that are produced using byproducts of donated blood. It is believed that the new agreement involves one of the smaller products, and not the inhalation drug.
The agreement with Baxter has already brought Kamada a $30 million milestone payment, and it is likely to bring another $10 million in milestone payments, $110 million in product sales to Baxter, and tens of millions of dollars from royalties, all within the next five years.
Kamada is traded on the TASE at a market cap of NIS 771 million. In 2010, the company had sales of NIS 129 million ($38 million) and it has a sales forecast of $55 million for 2011. "The agreement with Baxter has succeeded above and beyond our expectations," Baxter said.
Protalix CEO David Aviezer said at the same meeting, that in the next few months, the company will submit supplementary information to the FDA regarding its leading drug, Uplyso, which treats Gaucher's disease. A reply from the FDA is expected within 2-6 months from the date of submission. At the same time, Protalix's marketing partner for the drug, Pfizer, is supposed to submit applications for approval in countries other than the US.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on June 6, 2011
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