Eisai and Quintiles Enter into a Strategic Collaboration to Develop Eisai's Anticancer Compounds

Tokyo, Oct 30, 2009 - (JCN Newswire) - Eisai Co., Ltd. today announced that the company has concluded a strategic collaboration agreement with Quintiles, a world leading biopharmaceutical services company, to develop six anticancer compounds in its oncology pipeline to further expedite its Product Creation Strategy for the oncology-related disease area.

This collaboration is a new business model in which Eisai and Quintiles share clinical development risks and work together to increase speed and probability of success in developing Eisai's six oncology candidate compounds, which include eribulin mesylate (E7389), E7080, ONTAK(R)(generic name: denileukin diftitox), E7820, E6201, and E7050. Under the leadership and oversight of the oncology development team at NovaQuest, the strategic partnering group of Quintiles, Quintiles will conduct proof-of-concept studies (Phase II) for eleven tumour indications, while Eisai will continue ongoing development for 18 other indications for the same six compounds.

Eisai is developing a number of compounds in the oncology area in order to provide a variety of treatment options such as small molecules, biologics, therapeutic DNA vaccines, or supportive care therapies. In oncology development, it is extremely important to determine the efficacy and safety of candidate compounds across multiple indications in an efficient manner.

This strategic collaboration enables Eisai to develop multiple candidate compounds for multiple indications at the same time, thereby resulting in a significant potential for reducing development time and also in an increase in a probability of development success.

Through its Product Creation Strategy, including this partnership, Eisai will expedite the fast and steady development of novel anticancer compounds to contribute to addressing unmet medical needs and increasing benefits to patients who are suffering from cancer.


About Quintiles

Quintiles is the only fully integrated biopharmaceutical services company offering clinical, commercial, consulting and capital solutions worldwide. The Quintiles network of 23,000 engaged professionals in more than 50 countries around the globe works with an unwavering commitment to patients, safety and ethics. Quintiles helps biopharmaceutical companies navigate risk and seize opportunities in an environment where change is constant.

Quintiles brings a unique core strength in oncology product development to the partnership with Eisai. Since 2000, Quintiles has conducted 640 oncology studies, involving more than 131,000 patients at nearly 20,000 investigator sites in 68 countries. The company also helped develop or commercialize many of today's most widely-prescribed anticancer drugs. To further support its deep clinical development experience in the 11 solid tumor indications covered by this agreement, Quintiles recently added further expertise in clinical oncology biomarkers through its acquisition of Targeted Molecular Diagnostics. For more information, please visit www.quintiles.com.

About Eisai

Eisai Co., Ltd. (TSE: 4523; ADR: ESALY) is a research-based human health care company that discovers, develops and markets products in more than 30 countries. Through a global network of research facilities, manufacturing sites and marketing subsidiaries, Eisai actively participates in all aspects of the worldwide health care system. Eisai employs more than 8,000 people worldwide. For more information, please visit www.eisai.co.jp .



Source: Eisai

Contact:

PR Department
Eisai Co., Ltd.
81-3-3817-5120

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