AMSTERDAM, January 4, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Kiadis Pharma, a biopharmaceutical company based in The Netherlands, announced that it has entered into a licensing agreement with Hospira, Inc. , a global specialty pharmaceutical company, to develop and commercialize Kiadis Pharma's ATIR(TM). ATIR(TM) is a personalized hematology product designed for blood cancer patients in need of allogeneic bone marrow transplantation who cannot locate a matched donor. The product will enable a mismatched family member to act as donor and is being developed to reduce transplant related mortality caused by infections and graft-versus-host disease.

Under the terms of the agreement, Hospira is granted exclusive marketing rights to ATIR(TM) for Europe, the Middle East, Africa, Australia, Japan and parts of Asia. Kiadis Pharma maintains all rights to ATIR(TM) for the rest of the world. The financial terms include an undisclosed upfront payment and partial funding of the ATIR(TM) registration clinical trial currently ongoing in Europe and North America. Upon successful development and commercialization of ATIR(TM) in the European market, Kiadis Pharma can receive additional milestone payments and is entitled to royalties on product sales.

"We are very pleased to have Hospira as a partner bringing extensive pharmaceutical development expertise into the ATIR(TM) development program. Hospira's commitment to commercialize ATIR(TM) will ultimately accelerate making this lifesaving product available for patients," says Manja Bouman, CEO of Kiadis Pharma.

"Hospira is excited about the lifesaving potential of this innovative hematology product," said Andrew Robbins, vice president, corporate development and proprietary pharmaceutical marketing, "Following approval, ATIR will fit nicely within our strong portfolio of oncology products, including biosimilars Nivestim(TM) and Retacrit(TM), in Europe and Asia."