Singapore: ABIVAX, Europe-based clinical stage biopharmaceutical company developing and commercializing anti-viral compounds and human vaccines, has collaborated with Finlay Institute, Havana, Cuba, to commercialize vaccines against typhoid, meningococcus, and leptospirosis, in Asian and Latin American markets.

Under the terms of the agreement, ABIVAX will gain exclusive and non-exclusive distribution rights for three vaccines including Typhoid vaccine-vax‐TyVi, meningococcal vaccine-VA‐MENGOC‐BC and Leptospirosis vaccine vax‐SPIRAL.

ABIVAX will have rights to commercialize these products in a range of countries in Asia, including India, Indonesia, and the Philippines, and Latin America, including Brazil, Mexico, and Uruguay. As a result, ABIVAX has gained distribution rights to a number of exciting opportunities including typhoid in India, which is a market estimated to be worth over $600 million per annum. The Finlay Institute will be responsible for the cost competitive production of all three vaccines.

The company intends to build a commercial network to market these vaccines by appointing carefully selected partners in each of these countries. It will select its partners based on a number of criteria including ability to service the selected market, portfolio fit and strength of relations with the local authorities. ABIVAX will be responsible for the regulatory filings in each market, supported by its local partner. The first sales from this agreement are expected in 2015.

Prof. Hartmut Ehrlich, CEO, ABIVAX, said, "Today's agreement with The Finlay Institute is a further step in ABIVAX' strategy to become a global leader in the anti-virals and vaccines and thus protect a large number of people from these serious and potentially life threatening infectious diseases. We intend to leverage this deal by creating a strong distribution network in Asia and Latin America that will not only drive the sales of these competitive vaccine products but also products such as ABX203 which we currently have under development."