Q BioMed said today it agreed to exclusively license—with an option to acquire—platform technology assets of Mannin Research, the developer of a new class of vascular therapeutics.
Mannin’s primary focus is developing a first-in-class therapeutic eye-drop for glaucoma in adults and children, using a research platform designed to help develop new drugs for that indication and cystic kidney disease, among other diseases. Lead drug candidate MAN-01 is designed to treat abnormal vessels within the eye—thus treating glaucoma at its root causes, according to the company.
In September, Mannin CSO Susan E. Quaggin, M.D., led a research team that published details of the research platform in Journal of Clinical Investigation. The team showed that genetic disruption of the angiopoietin/TIE2 (ANGPT/TIE2) signaling pathway results in high increased intra-ocular pressure (IOP), buphthalmos, and classic features of glaucoma that included retinal ganglion degeneration and vision loss.
“These data raise the intriguing possibility that promotion of lymphangiogenesis with therapies such as VEGFC or ANGPT/TIE2 agonists might represent novel and much-needed therapies for glaucoma,” the researchers concluded.
Dr. Quaggin is chief of the Division of Nephrology, and director of the Feinberg Cardiovascular Research Institute at Northwestern University.
Based in New York, Q BioMed is a biomedical acceleration and development company focused on acquiring companies and biomedical assets.
Q BioMed said it is working with Mannin to develop the eye drop, which will be designed to repair the normal flow of fluid in the eye, resulting in the reduction of IOP.
According to Q BioMed, the cost for treatment is projected to be approximately $1,000 per patient per year: “Based on that and a moderate market penetration and sales growth estimate, revenues could be significant in this multi-billion dollar market.”
In addition to the eye drops, the research platform can be the source for developing a pipeline of novel therapeutics to treat a spectrum of vascular diseases, Q BioMed reasons.
Q BioMed said in a regulatory filing its initial cost for the license was $50,000 and the issuance of 200,000 shares of common stock, subject to an 18-month restriction from trading and subsequent leak-out conditions.
Should Mannin complete a successful Phase I proof-of-concept trial for its glaucoma therapy, Q BioMed agreed to issue additional shares of common stock to Mannin, also subject to leak-out conditions.
“We estimate this milestone to occur in the fourth quarter of 2018,” Q BioMed said.
Q BioMed’s license allows it to buy Mannin’s IP within the next four years for “a minimum” $4 million, and possibly issuing to Mannin additional shares “based on meeting pre-determined valuation and market conditions.”
If those events do not occur, or if Q BioMed fails to “make a diligent, good faith and commercially reasonable effort” to advance the IP, it will revert to Mannin. Q BioMed also wins the right to collect twice the monies invested through that date through a royalty payment, “along with other consideration which may be perpetual.”
