Sorrento Therapeutics, a development-stage biopharmaceutical company, and Igdrasol, a developer of personalized paclitaxel, have acquired exclusive distribution rights from Samyang Biopharmaceuticals, a South Korean corporation, to Cynviloq (marketed as Genexol-PMR in South Korea) in the 27 countries of E.U.

Igdrasol had previously obtained the exclusive U.S. distribution rights to Cynviloq from Samyang, and with this agreement, Samyang again recognizes the ability of Igdrasol's management team to leverage its domain expertise in nanomedicine for the development and commercialization of Cynviloq. STI has the right to acquire Igdrasol pursuant to a previously-announced option agreement, entered into in March 2013.

Cynviloq is a next-generation, branded, micellar diblock copolymeric paclitaxel formulation currently approved and marketed in several countries, including South Korea for metastatic breast cancer (MBC), non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) and ovarian cancer. It has also completed phase II studies for potential advancement into registration trials in the U.S.

Preliminary data analysis from an ongoing MBC phase III trial in South Korea has indicated a significantly improved overall response rate (ORR) for Cynviloq as compared to a solvent-based paclitaxel, a generic version of Taxol. More comprehensive data analyses will be presented at future medical conferences.

"We look forward to potentially making this important drug, Cynviloq, available to cancer patients who would greatly benefit from it—initially as an alternative to Abraxane and potentially in the future as a treatment option for indications such as bladder and ovarian cancers," said Vuong Trieu, Ph.D., CEO of Igdrasol.