Flexion Therapeutics signs agreements with four pharmaceutical firms

Published: 29-Jan-2010

Flexion Therapeutics, a US developer of drug candidates, has signed agreements with four major pharmaceutical partners, acquiring the rights to four clinical-stage compounds, and has gained funding from Pfizer.


Flexion Therapeutics, a US developer of drug candidates, has signed agreements with four major pharmaceutical partners, acquiring the rights to four clinical-stage compounds, and has gained funding from Pfizer.

The agreements with AstraZeneca, Merck Serono and another unnamed partner establish for Flexion a mature pipeline of drug candidates for inflammatory diseases. The investment from Pfizer's Venture Capital group has closed Flexion's Series A financing round at US$42m.

"We were able to review more than 100 compounds from numerous potential partners before selecting these high-value specialist programmes, each of which has increased probability of success at both proof of concept and Phase III," said Mike Clayman, ceo of Flexion Therapeutics, which is based in Woburn, MA.

Under the terms of the in-licensing deals, Flexion has acquired a clinically enabled compound from AstraZeneca, a compound from Merck Serono and two other clinical compounds from the undisclosed partner. The potential drugs will be developed for a range of inflammatory conditions, including the intra-articular treatment of osteoarthritis, and for tinnitus.

Financial terms were not disclosed but the agreements include milestone payments and royalties if the compounds are successful.




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