Epix will regain worldwide rights to Vasovist

Epix Pharmaceuticals Inc. of Lexington said today that Bayer Schering Pharma will transfer the worldwide commercial rights for the novel blood pool magnetic resonance angiography agent, Vasovist, to EPIX.

The collaboration agreement between the two parties will terminate effective March 1, and until that time, Bayer Schering Pharma will continue to provide continued supply of Vasovist in the 19 countries where it is currently marketed, Epix said.

Earlier this year, Epix resubmitted a new drug application to the Food and Drug Administration for Vasovist, an imaging agent for diagnosing vascular disease.

The FDA had previously denied approval for Vasovist and suggested that additional testing was necessary. Ultimately the FDA said new trials would not be required and asked EPIX to submit the results stemming from a re-read of its Phase 3 clinical trial images, the company said. Epix has expressed the hope that Vasovist will gain US approval by the end of the year.

Epix said in today's press release: "Vasovist is an injectable intravascular contrast agent designed to provide improved imaging of the vascular system through magnetic resonance angiography imaging (MRA). Vasovist has been approved for marketing in 34 countries, including all 27 member states of the European Union, Switzerland, Turkey, Australia, and Canada. Global marketing rights to Vasovist are currently held by Bayer Schering Pharma. Vasovist is currently marketed in Canada and 18 European countries, including Germany, the Netherlands, Italy, all Nordic countries, the United Kingdom, and Switzerland."
(By Chris Reidy, Globe staff)