Xynomic licenses AbbVie’s abexinostat
Xynomic Pharmaceuticals Inc. (Cheyenne, Wyo.) said it gained exclusive, worldwide rights to develop and commercialize oncology candidate abexinostat from AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV). Xynomic said it plans to start Phase III trials of the histone deacetylase (HDAC) inhibitor in 3Q17. The companies did not respond to inquiries.
AbbVie gained abexinostat through its 2015 acquisition of Pharmacyclics Inc. A paper published last month in Haematologica reported a 28% response rate among 87 evaluable patients receiving abexinostat in a Phase II study to treat non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma (NHL) or chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL). Xynomic said the compound has completed 14 Phase I and II studies, demonstrating a more favorable safety profile than other HDAC-targeting compounds...