Accentia, Baxter Enter Cytoxan Alliance

Accentia Biopharmaceuticals has entered a strategic agreement with Baxter Healthcare providing Accentia the exclusive, worldwide right to purchase Baxter’s cyclophosphamide — marketed under the brand name Cytoxan — for the treatment of autoimmune diseases, including multiple sclerosis. Cyclophosphamide is the active drug used in Accentia’s Revimmune therapy currently being developed for the treatment of a broad range of autoimmune diseases.

Accentia also has the exclusive right to reference Baxter’s historical data related to cyclophosphamide for its clinical and regulatory development of Revimmune. The agreement designates Baxter as Accentia’s sole source of cyclophosphamide for Revimmune.

“We are pleased that, through this agreement, we will be able to support Accentia Biopharmaceuticals in the ongoing development of Revimmune,” said Debasis Chakrabarti, M.D., Ph.D., Baxter’s Therapeutic Area Leader for Oncology. “Further investigation of cyclophosphamide may identify a potentially valuable treatment option for patients with devastating autoimmune diseases, including multiple sclerosis, with high unmet medical need.”

Accentia’s president, Samuel S. Duffey, said, “We consider our agreement with Baxter to be highly strategic to Accentia’s plans for the development and commercialization of Revimmune. With this agreement in place, we are planning a robust clinical and regulatory development strategy to advance our mission to establish Revimmune as a new standard-of-care treatment for patients suffering from autoimmune diseases, including orphan indications with potential accelerated regulatory pathways, as well as major indications such as multiple sclerosis.”