1) "The clinical programme evaluating several NO-donating antihypertensive candidates from the original agreement in healthy volunteers and mild to moderate hypertensive patients has now been completed and none of the compounds tested will be further advanced in development."
2) "The research collaboration with Merck has been very fruitful"
sacrement fruitful ...
NicOx, Merck amend license pact, to develop new NO donating drugs
Friday, September 17, 2010 13:00 IST
France
NicOx S.A. announced that it has agreed with its partner Merck, known as MSD outside the United States and Canada, to expand the scope of their worldwide license agreement, originally executed in 2006. This decision follows the discovery of a new approach to nitric oxide (NO) donation during the course of the joint research programme.
This approach may be used to develop new classes of NO-donating new molecular entities (NMEs), designed to offer a different mechanism for controlling the delivery of NO while retaining the potential therapeutic benefits. Additional information will not be disclosed for reasons of commercial confidentiality.
The clinical programme evaluating several NO-donating antihypertensive candidates from the original agreement in healthy volunteers and mild to moderate hypertensive patients has now been completed and none of the compounds tested will be further advanced in development.
NicOx has developed a world-leading position in the therapeutic application of NO-donating compounds. NO is an endogenous cell-signalling molecule of basic importance in physiology and there is significant evidence that certain diseases are related to a deficiency in the production of nitric oxide. This new approach with Merck continues to build on the concept of a slow release of NO with a sustained pharmacological effect at tissue level.
Under the revised agreement, Merck has the right to develop NMEs using this new approach in certain cardiovascular indications. NicOx will have the right to develop product candidates in other indications. NicOx and Merck will pay development milestones and royalties to the other partner on products emerging from their respective research programmes. NicOx and Merck have agreed that no further announcements on the compounds developed by Merck under the collaboration are anticipated unless and until a drug-candidate advances into phase 2 clinical studies.
Ennio Ongini, vice president research at NicOx, commented: “The research collaboration with Merck has been very fruitful, and it is as a result of the excellent scientific interaction that this new approach to NO donation was discovered. Novel molecules using this approach offer an exciting new alternative route to exploit the biological properties of NO which can potentially be used in a wide range of therapeutic areas.”
Under the revised agreement, each company will be responsible for funding their own research and development costs. NicOx and Merck do not have the option to co-promote any NMEs from the other partner resulting from this expanded license.
NicOx is a pharmaceutical company focused on the research, development and future commercialization of drug candidates. NicOx is applying its proprietary nitric oxide-donating R&D platform to develop an internal portfolio of New Molecular Entities (NME) for the potential treatment of inflammatory, cardiometabolic and ophthalmological diseases.
