Tifacogin (Chiron Corp/Pharmacia Corp).

Tifacogin is a recombinant tissue factor pathway inhibitor (rTFPI) under development by Pharmacia Corp (formerly GD Searle) and Chiron as a potential treatment for sepsis. The product is in phase III trials [406208]. In July 2000, Pharmacia anticipated regulatory filings in 2002 [374505]. Chiron and Searle conducted research on TFPI independently in the early 1990s and entered an agreement to collaborate on the development, manufacturing and marketing of the compound in 1994, granting each other licenses on the patents concerned with TFPI [224098]. Searle (Monsanto Co) first disclosed recombinant TFPI in the associated patent, US-05212091. Unlike natural TFPI, however, it possessed an N-terminal alanine and the expression method using E coli did not always yield entirely homologous protein. A method for expressing genuine TFPI in yeast is disclosed in Chiron's patent WO-09604377. Patents for methods of treating sepsis with TFPI were claimed independently in two patents from Cetus Oncology (Chiron; WO-09324143) and Searle (WO-09325230). The discovery research of TFPI was conducted by Searle in collaboration with Washington University [224098]. Washington University holds two patents, EP-00563023 and WO-09604378, which claim the use of TFPI for the inhibition of microvascular thrombosis and reperfusion injury, respectively. Analysts at Lehman Brothers predicted in December 2001, that there was a 50% probability of the drug making it to market, with peak sales potential of 500 million US dollars in 2003 [434768].