Globavir Exclusively Licenses Oncology Program to Sorrento Therapeutics

Globavir Biosciences, Inc., a specialty biotechnology company developing small molecule drugs to treat cancer and infectious diseases, and Sorrento Therapeutics, Inc., an oncology company developing new treatments for cancer and associated pain, announced today that the companies have entered into an agreement under which Globavir exclusively licensed its novel oncology compound, BC001, to Sorrento Therapeutics.

“Our agreement with Sorrento Therapeutics represents the first oncology partnership for Globavir,” said Dr. Shalabh Gupta, Globavir’s president and CEO. “Sorrento has a strong background in oncology and proven experience in clinical development advancing drugs to commercial stage. We are excited about the potential of BC001 as a new therapeutic option for patients affected with cancer and look forward to leveraging our computational Globavir Drug Discovery Platform (GDDP) to generate additional oncology compounds in the future.”

About the partnership:
Under the terms of the agreement, Sorrento Therapeutics will be responsible for the development and commercialization of BC001 for the treatment of solid tumors. Full details of the partnership were not disclosed, but Sorrento Therapeutics participated as an equity investor in Globavir’s previous round of financing, and under the terms of partnership Globavir is entitled to $80 million in regulatory and sales milestones in addition to multi-tiered royalty payments on global net sales.

About the program:
BC001 is a new chemical entity discovered at The University of Southern California and originally licensed by Globavir. It represents an alternative and a superior approach to targeting angiogenesis, invasion and altered energy metabolism in cancers. BC001 targets hypoxia-inducible factors (HIF)-mediated signaling in a focal point of amplification in response (specifically HIF1a-p300 interaction, downstream of which multiple oncogenic targets are activated). It is known that traditional cancer therapies are often limited in their efficacy because they display toxicity to normal cells and can lead to drug-resistant tumors. Currently, there is no FDA-approved agent to target HIF.

About the compound:
Several companies are currently developing drugs that target traditional signaling and regulatory molecules such as Vascular Endothelial Growth Factors (VEGF), Platelet-Derived Growth Factors (PDGF) and Fibroblast Growth Factors (FGF), as well as transcription factors and receptor tyrosine kinases. BC001 is a different anti-angiogenic molecule, uniquely working by disrupting binding of a transcription factor to its co-factor and thereby controlling tumor growth. BC001 is therefore a highly differentiated compound with potential in oncology as well as outside the cancer setting for treating ophthalmological (macular) diseases and infectious diseases such as hepatitis B virus (HBV) and human papillomavirus (HPV).

About Sorrento Therapeutics

Sorrento is a clinical stage oncology company developing new treatments for cancer and associated pain. Sorrento recently entered into a definitive agreement with NantPharma, a NantWorks company, to acquire the rights for CynviloqTM, which recently completed the TRIBECATM study successfully, from Sorrento. The company is also developing resiniferatoxin (RTX), a non-opiate TRPV1 agonist currently in a Phase 1/2 study at the NIH to treat terminal cancer patients suffering from intractable pain.

In December 2014, Sorrento and NantWorks formed a global joint venture, now called Nantibody, to focus on immunotherapies for cancer. Also in December 2014, Sorrento and Conkwest, Inc., an immuno-oncology company developing proprietary Neukoplast®, a Natural Killer (NK) cell-line based therapy, entered into an agreement to jointly develop CAR.TNKTM (Chimeric Antigen Receptor Tumor-attacking Neukoplast) immunotherapies for the treatment of cancer and infectious diseases. In March 2015, Sorrento entered into a global collaboration with NantCell, a NantWorks company, to discover and develop immunotherapies against tumor neo-epitopes.

About Globavir

Globavir is a specialty biotechnology company with a unique approach to unlocking the potential of the 505(b)(2) regulatory path. Globavir leverages its highly predictive, machine learning GDDP platform, initially developed at Stanford University, to generate small molecule candidates in oncology and infectious diseases. The company is exploring multiple infectious diseases with its lead product, GBV006, entering into Phase1b/2a clinical trial in the first half of 2016. Globavir is also developing a pipeline in immuno-oncology, targeting checkpoint inhibitor pathways and has exclusive global licenses to develop and commercialize a blood based diagnostic test platform from Stanford University. Globavir was also recently selected as one of portfolio companies accepted by StartX. Globavir is based out of Los Altos, California, USA.

Ref: Globavir Press Release dated July 9, 2015