Medivir CEO on upcoming study: ”It's about working together with others”
Av It's busy days at Medivir, a Stockholm based company with ten full-time employees. The main drug candidate fostrox, a treatment aimed at liver cancer, is in the final phase of a clinical phase Ib/IIa trial showing promising results, and now plans are being made for a phase IIb study starting in the first half of 2025.
The ongoing trial includes 21 patients, but the upcoming study will be significantly larger and will include in the order of 150-200 patients in eight countries.
The clinical trials are carried out by external contract research companies (CROs), but Jens Lindberg emphasizes the importance of the internal competence within Medivir.
“An experienced and competent team is needed to be able to make the right demands on the CRO you work with. You need to know when it's time to follow up, when it's time to put on pressure, or when to wait. It places fairly large competence and project management demands on our team”, he says.
Before the procurement of the upcoming study, Medivir engaged an experienced consultant who acted as a partner and sounding board in the negotiation with the CRO to achieve the best possible outcome.
“She helped us with the procurement, among other things by being the slightly more challenging person at the table, which contributed to a professionally completed process and a good start to the collaboration, as we will continue to work together with the chosen CRO.”
Fostrox is being evaluated in combination with Lenvima, a drug from Japanese company Eisai, for patients with advanced liver cancer who have undergone an immunotherapy as a first-line treatment. There are currently no approved alternatives for second-line treatment, says Jens Lindberg.
“Our ambition is to become the first approved treatment in a population with great need. If we do, the benefit for patients is enormous, and the commercial potential is very large.”
Jens Lindberg is one of the speakers at the conference Pharma Outsourcing - Find the right partner, which takes place in Life City in Solna on December 3.
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