Abbott will pay Dutch antibody developer PanGenetics $170 million upfront for the global rights to a humanized antibody to nerve growth factor in Phase I clinical development for osteoarthritis. The agreement, announced Nov. 12, positions Abbott as a contender in a race to develop an NGF antibody for pain.
NGF is a competitive area of research in a therapeutic area with large market potential, and drug makers like Pfizer, Sanofi-Aventis and Johnson & Johnson have already jumped into the space. Pfizer's candidate, tanezumab, appears to be the furthest along in development, currently in Phase III clinical trials.
"The goal for treatment of chronic pain continues to be potent, long-lasting analgesia that is tolerable for patients without the potential for dependence and abuse," Abbott said in a statement. "NGF blockers have demonstrated the potential to address all of these needs, making them a promising treatment for chronic pain patients."
PG110 is expected to be differentiated from other candidates, PanGenetics CEO Kevin Johnson said in an interview, though he declined to say how. "We believe it will be the best-in-class," he said. A Phase I clinical trial for PG110 is just underway in osteoarthritis with data expected in mid 2010. The double-blind, placebo controlled study is being conducted in Utrecht, the Netherlands, in collaboration with the contract research organization Kendle International.
"The best deals are the ones where everybody wins," Johnson said of the payment, noting that for Abbott, "this is a huge opportunity, the NGF/chronic pain space." If the Phase I trial is successful, Abbott said it plans to evaluate the compound in a number of other pain indications, including chronic lower back pain, cancer pain and diabetic neuropathic pain.
Abbott already has several programs in early development for chronic pain, the firm said, including vanilloid cellular receptors, cannabinoid receptors and histamine H3 receptors.
PanGenetics opted to pass the baton early in PG110's development because the company is "tiny" with only 20 employees and pain is a large therapeutic area that requires significant development resources. An estimated 72 million people in the U.S. and EU are diagnosed with chronic pain, according to PanGenetics. Current treatment options, including non-steroidal anti-inflammatories, COX-2 inhibitors, and opioids, are all dosed daily and have tolerability and safety issues.
PanGenetics is a therapeutic antibody development company with a focus on immune-mediated diseases, cancer and pain. The firm was initially financed with $2 million in 2005 by the Swiss investor group Index Ventures, and has since gone through two additional rounds of financing. Johnson, previously the chief technology officer at Cambridge Antibody Technology, joined the company in 2006, the year AstraZeneca bought CAT. PanGenetic's other clinical-stage asset is PG102, an anti-CD40 molecule in Phase I for psoriatic arthritis.
Johnson & Johnson licensed a clinical-stage NGF inhibitor from Amgen last year for $50 million upfront and a potential $385 million in milestones ('The Pink Sheet' DAILY, Aug. 1, 2008)
Sanofi gained rights to an NGF inhibitor as part of a broad long-term antibody discovery deal with Regeneron in 2007, a partnership that was just recently extended ("The Pink Sheet' DAILY, Nov. 11, 2009). Pfizer released positive Phase II data on tanezumab last year ('The Pink Sheet' DAILY, Oct. 31, 2008).
-Jessica Merrill (j.merrill@elsevier.com)
This article is reprinted from "The Pink Sheet" DAILY –Nov 12, 2009
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