Washington Editor

Adolor Corp. licensed six patents from Eli Lilly and Co. to help develop products related to peripherally selective opioid antagonists.

Exton, Pa.-based Adolor paid Lilly $4 million on the signing of the deal and agreed to pay clinical and regulatory milestones as well as royalties to Lilly if products develop from the research. Peter Schied, Adolor's chief financial officer, told BioWorld Today that the company focuses on opioid technology.

"Our lead product is in this area, so acquisition of the rest of this technology increases our opportunity to further develop products," he said.

Alvimopan, Adolor's lead product in separate Phase III trials for postoperative ileus and opioid-induced bowel dysfunction, is being developed via an agreement potentially worth $270 million with GlaxoSmithKline plc, of London. GSK paid Adolor a $50 million up-front fee upon signing the deal. (See BioWorld Today, April 16, 2002.)

In 1999, Adolor acquired licensing rights to alvimopan (formerly known as ADL 8-2698) under Lilly's U.S. and foreign patents and patent applications through an agreement with Roberts Laboratories Inc., an Eatontown, N.J.-based company that had acquired the rights from Lilly in 1996. According to research notes released by San Francisco-based Pacific Growth Equities Inc., Adolor licensed the rights for $600,000.

Per Monday's agreement, Adolor also has agreed to pay Lilly $4 million on acceptance of the first application for marketing approval.

Schied said the company expects to file the new drug application for alvimopan in postoperative ileus in 2003, making alvimopan, if approved, the company's first marketed product. Shied said a timeline for filing on the second indication has not been set.

The companies are co-developing and co-promoting alvimopan and will share in development expenses and commercial returns. Adolor is working on the development, marketing and co-promotion strategy in acute-care indications while GSK will work in chronic-care indications.

Around the same time that Adolor publicized the deal with GSK, company officials released unfavorable results from early Phase II studies of ADL 10-0101, a stimulant of peripherally restricted kappa opioid analgesic used for visceral or inflammatory pain. The results prompted the company to return to Phase I to establish the maximum tolerated dose. Schied said that process is on target. (See BioWorld Today, April 2, 2002.)

Adolor's stock (NASDAQ:ADLR) rose 20 cents Monday to close at $12.20.