CombinatoRx, Fovea Pharma agree to collaborate on developing ophthalmic drugs

By Ted A. Knutson

Washington, Jan. 31 - CombinatoRx, Inc. announced Tuesday that it and Fovea Pharmaceuticals SA have agreed to collaborate on development and commercialization of combination drugs to treat ophthalmic diseases.

Under the agreement, Fovea will fund and conduct pre-clinical and clinical development of combination drug candidates it selects from the CombinatoRx portfolio, including creating ophthalmic formulations. Fovea has agreed to develop promising combination candidates up to the start of phase 3 clinical trials.

CombinatoRx will also grant to Fovea an exclusive worldwide license to certain preclinical drug combinations to treat allergic and inflammatory diseases of the front of the eye.

For these licensed compounds, CombinatoRx is eligible to receive up to approximately $20 million in upfront and development and regulatory milestone payments for the first product candidate successfully developed, and an additional milestone payment for the approval of a product in an additional indication. CombinatoRx is also eligible to receive royalties for each licensed product commercialized by Fovea.

"Fovea is dedicated to creating the next generation of drugs to treat disorders of the eye and we look forward to working with their development team to advance CombinatoRx's product candidates into the ophthalmic space," said Alexis Borisy, president and chief executive officer of CombinatoRx, in a news release. "In this deal we access specialty development expertise, non-dilutive capital and retain significant product rights."

In exchange for Fovea's development investment, CombinatoRx will grant to Fovea exclusive commercial rights to selected products in Europe and certain additional countries.

CombinatoRx will jointly own new intellectual property and data generated by Fovea up to phase 3 trials and retains the rights to develop and commercialize the ophthalmic products in North America and certain other countries. The parties will have co-exclusive rights in Japan and Taiwan.

Boston-based CombinatoRx is a biotechnology company.

Fovea Pharmaceuticals is a Paris-based biopharmaceutical company specialized in development and commercialization of drugs for the treatment of ocular diseases.

© 2015 Prospect News.
All content on this website is protected by copyright law in the U.S. and elsewhere. For the use of the person downloading only.
Redistribution and copying are prohibited by law without written permission in advance from Prospect News.
Redistribution or copying includes e-mailing, printing multiple copies or any other form of reproduction.