Teva buys rights to develop small-molecule CGRP antagonists
Enters into agreement with Heptares to develop novel products for the treatment of migraine
Teva Pharmaceutical Industries has entered into a licensing and drug discovery agreement with Heptares Therapeutics, a UK-based subsidiary of Japanese biopharmaceutical company Sosei Group, to develop small-molecule calcitonin gene-related peptide (CGRP) antagonists for the treatment of migraine.
CGRP is released during migraine attacks and can trigger migraine in patients. Blocking CGRP activity helps to relieve pain and prevent migraine.
Under the terms of the agreement, Teva will make an upfront payment of US$10m to Heptares, in addition to research funding.
Heptares could also receive additional research, development and commercialisation milestone payments of up to $400m. In addition, the firm is eligible to receive royalties on net sales of products resulting from the alliance.
'We are delighted to begin this partnership with Heptares, which through its industry-leading, structure-based design approach has generated novel CGRP antagonists with significant promise for treating migraine,' said Michael Hayden, President of Global R&D and Chief Scientific Officer at Teva.
'CGRP antagonism represents an exciting opportunity to treat migraine. We believe small-molecule CGRP antagonists offer further opportunities that are highly complementary to our promising candidate, TEV-48125, an anti-CGRP antibody.'
