SUBSCRIBE Blog with us: BLOGbiotech

GEN News Highlights

• Email
• Print
• Share
• More GEN News Highlights

Oct 23 2009, 11:42 AM EST

Alcon Takes On Potentia’s AMD Therapy and Gains Option Related to Other Retinal Diseases

GEN News Highlights

Alcon inked license and purchase option agreements with Potentia Pharmaceuticals for its Phase I treatment for age-related macular degeneration (AMD). For an up-front payment Alcon gains a license to POT-4 in AMD and the option to investigate the compound in other ophthalmic disorders.

If specified development milestones are achieved and if Alcon elects to continue development of POT-4 in AMD, it may acquire shares of Potentia. The arrangement also calls for future payments if Alcon goes ahead with development in other indications, which will have their own clinical and regulatory milestones. The rights to the technology underlying POT-4 for application outside of retinal diseases are held by Swiss-based Apellis.

Potentia stands to earn sales-based royalties on any products that are ultimately approved and commercialized under this collaboration.

Potentia completed a Phase I trial for POT-4, a complement inhibitor, in patients with wet AMD. Investigators report only minimal and mild local adverse events related to the injection with no serious adverse events linked to the drug itself.

“There is a body of science supporting the potential for complement inhibitors in the treatment of retinal disease,” according to Sabri Markabi, M.D., Alcon's svp of R&D and CMO. POT-4 inhibits complement factor C3 and interrupts the complement activation cascade. Complement activation can lead to local inflammation in the eye that is believed to play a pivotal role in the development of AMD, Potentia explains.

 

♦♦♦
Related News
Alcon Picks Up ESBATech’s Opthalmology Franchise for $150M Up Front (Sep. 14, 2009)
Alcon Gains AstraZeneca’s Ophthalmology Compound Library (July 23, 2009)
Alcon Pads Eye-Disease Pipeline through Deals with GSK and Origenis (Oct. 15, 2008)
Acucela and Otsuka Ally to Advance Compounds for Treating Dry AMD and Dry Eye (Sep. 4, 2008)
Novartis Takes Minority Stake in Alcon for $10.6B (Apr. 7, 2008)

• Email
• Print
• Share
• More GEN News Highlights

Comment on this News:

Name:
Title:
Comment:
	HELP US FIGHT SPAMMING ROBOTS by answering the following simple question. It will verify you as a legitimate user wishing to post a comment. Thank you for your cooperation.

CAREER CENTER

WEBINARS

PODCASTS

MOST POPULAR