Archived article
Please note that tax, investment, pension and ISA rules can change and the information and any views contained in this article may now be inaccurate.
Drug developer Redx Pharma said it had signed a significant out-licensing agreement for its fibrotic diseases treatment with AstraZeneca.
AstraZeneca would take Redx Pharma's porcupine inhibitor, RXC006, forward into clinical development, targeting fibrotic diseases including idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis.
Porcupine inhibition was a novel anti-fibrotic approach that suppressed Wnt ligand secretion from pro-fibrotic cells.
idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis was a life-threatening and progressive lung disease with a high mortality rate and a prognosis worse than many cancers.
AstraZeneca would pay Redx several early milestones that amount to $17m, by the time of successful commencement of a phase one study.
In addition, Redx was eligible to receive up to a further $360m from AstraZeneca in development, regulatory and commercial milestone payments throughout the course of the programme should it successfully reach those milestones.
Redx was also eligible for tiered royalties of mid-single digit percentages, based on any future net sales.
'We are excited by the potential of porcupine inhibition as a novel approach to tackling fibrotic-associated diseases where there is a real patient need,' chief executive Lisa Anson said.
'This agreement, where AstraZeneca will license this first in class porcupine inhibitor for IPF and progress it into development, highlights, once again, Redx's ability to generate molecules that have significant potential as novel medicines.'
At 1:56pm:
(LON:AZN) Astrazeneca PLC share price was -149.5p at 8617.5p
(LON:REDX) Redx Pharma Plc share price was +40p at 65p