ProStrakan unveils new cash deals for Sancuso

PROSTRAKAN, the Borders-based pharmaceutical company, has continued to build a revenue stream from its first US-approved drug, announcing two deals for its anti-nausea patch, Sancuso.

Under a new outlicensing deal, Singapore-based Invida Pharmaceutical will be able to sell Sancuso, a patch designed to alleviate nausea commonly suffered by chemotherapy patients.

Invida will sell the treatment in Australia and several countries in South East Asia, paying ProStrakan an up-front fee and milestone payments based on sales.

Meanwhile, Newbridge, the Dubai-based pharmaceutical firm, which has already secured the rights to Sancuso in the Middle East and Africa, has extended its deal to cover Turkey. Both companies are required to buy the treatment directly from ProStrakan at an agreed price.

Teathers analyst Shawn Manning said that, even at a conservative estimate, these deals would provide revenues to ProStrakan of 1.5-2.6m a year by the time Sancuso reaches peak sales in 2015.

ProStrakan received approval to market Sancuso last September and officially launched the treatment in the US at the start of November. Since then has announced a string of deals to license it in countries where it has no operations.

Chief executive Wilson Totten said that since treatment had been approved by the US Food and Drug administration it had "caught the attention of pharmaceutical companies globally".