Kitov Announces Settlement Agreement with Minority Shareholder of Recently Acquired TyrNovo
TEL AVIV, Israel, Feb. 10, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Kitov Pharmaceuticals Holdings Ltd. (KTOV) (KTOV), an innovative biopharmaceutical company, announced today that, following its acquisition of a controlling interest in TyrNovo Ltd., a privately held Israeli company developing a novel small molecule for various oncology indications, a settlement agreement between Kitov, TyrNovo and a minority shareholder of TyrNovo was finalized and a final ruling was issued by the Israeli court. These actions follow a court motion filed on January 19, 2017, by the minority shareholder in connection with the acquisition of TyrNovo by Kitov.
As part of the settlement, agreements were signed among Kitov, TyrNovo and the minority shareholder under which the minority shareholder agreed to invest in TyrNovo up to an aggregate amount of US$ 1.75 million following the achievement of an agreed upon milestone, and Kitov agreed to invest in TyrNovo up to an aggregate amount of US$ 1.0 million, with all investments in the form of convertible loans to be made on the same terms and conditions, and according to a pre-determined schedule. In addition, Kitov, TyrNovo and the minority shareholder signed an agreement dismissing any and all legal proceedings or claims against Kitov and TyrNovo in connection with the acquisition of TyrNovo by Kitov.
“We are pleased to have reached this settlement with the TyrNovo minority shareholder. With the expected upcoming submission to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) of the New Drug Application for our lead drug candidate, KIT-302, the settlement enables us to focus on the clinical and commercial development of KIT-302 and TyrNovo’s NT219, a promising new cancer therapy candidate. As a result of the settlement, we expect to be able to reduce the financial resources required to be funded by Kitov in TyrNovo, while creating further value for Kitov stakeholders by advancing NT219 towards a timely submission to the FDA of an Investigational New Drug Application,” stated Mr. Isaac Israel, Kitov’s Chief Executive Officer.
About NT219
NT219 is a small molecule that presents a new concept in cancer therapy by promoting the degradation of two oncology-related checkpoints, Insulin Receptor Substrates (IRS) 1 and 2 as well as the inhibition of signal transducer and activator of transcription 3 (STAT3). While targeted anti-cancer drugs inhibit the "ON" signal, NT219 activates the "OFF" switch, extensively blocking major oncogenic pathways. In pre-clinical trials, NT219, in combination with several approved cancer drugs, displayed potent anti-tumor effects and increased survival in various cancers by preventing the tumors from developing multi-drug resistance and ameliorating multi-drug resistance after resistance is acquired. NT219, in combination with various approved oncology drugs, demonstrated potent anti-tumor effects and increased survival in various cancer models including sarcoma, melanoma, pancreatic, lung, ovarian, head & neck, prostate and colon cancers, through the prevention of acquired resistance and regression of resistant tumors.
About TyrNovo
TyrNovo is developing NT219, a small molecule originally developed by Dr. Hadas Reuveni and Prof. Alexander Levitzki at the Hebrew University, and exclusively licensed from Yissum, the Hebrew University Research Development Company. TyrNovo demonstrated the potential of NT219 to overcome resistance to multiple anti-cancer drugs, by using the Patient-Derived Xenograft (PDX) models, in collaboration with Prof. Izhak Haviv from the Bar-Ilan University and Prof. M. Stemmer from Clalit HMO.
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