The deal will see the Israeli pharma firm pay $10m (€9.4m) upfront to license Heptares’ drug design technology platform to engineer CGRP antagonists for treating migraine. Teva could pay the Sosei-subsidiary up to $400m in development milestones, as well as royalties if any candidate reaches commercialisation.
“CGRP antagonism is a well validated approach to treating migraine and there are small molecules and biologics in clinical development targeting this mechanism, and both modalities are now being advanced at Teva following this deal,” a Hepatares spokesman told in-Pharmatechnologist.com.
“The Heptares molecules are based on completely novel chemistries that are highly differentiated from earlier CGRP antagonists, and have been shown to be potent and selective,” he continued, adding there is a further in their delivery opportunities.
“They present the opportunity for delivery using routes that are not available to biologics, such as oral or intra-nasal, and for patients with different needs, such as in acute therapy.”
The deal with Teva is the latest collaboration with Big Pharma by Heptares, which has previously inked agreements with firms including Novartis, Medimmune, and Takeda.
“Teva has exclusive rights to the CGRP antagonist programme so Heptares is not looking for other partners in that area,” we were told. However, the firm continues to look for collaborations in other areas through technology and pipeline partnerships, and developing its own candidates potentially to commercialise or co-commercialise with partners.
“These strategies will provide revenues for the business in the near, med and long terms, through upfront payments, milestones and royalties.”