By Randall Osborne

West Coast Editor

To double its research efforts in metabotropic glutamate receptors (mGluRs) for central nervous system disorders, NPS Pharmaceuticals Inc. entered a five-year collaboration with AstraZeneca plc.

"They have [an mGluR] program, but we bring some unique technology to it, in our identification of chimeric receptors - proprietary constructs that allow high-throughput screening they didn't have," said Bob Merrell, chief financial officer of Salt Lake City-based NPS.

Under the terms of the deal, NPS is licensing its technology related to mGluR, and molecules that act at those receptors, to AstraZeneca, of London, which will match NPS's funding levels and offer NPS options either to co-promote products in North America or get royalties.

"Money did not change hands, on the first part of the transaction," Merrell said. "We'll continue to fund our own discovery programs, but now they're combined into one effort. So, it's not changing our cash flow up or down immediately. What we're looking for is back-end participation."

Eight distinct subtypes of mGluRs are known to exist throughout the central nervous system. The subtypes are grouped and, "in group one antagonists, the most advanced part of our program, there is a higher royalty rate and profit-sharing potential," Merrell said.

"These are all preclinical, but [the deal] has royalties and profit-sharing you would normally associate with a clinical collaboration," he told BioWorld Today, declining to be more specific about the amounts.

No specific indications have been decided upon, Merrell added.

"We have made progress in identifying orally active compounds in animal models, including pain," he said.

NPS also has six drugs in clinical development and several preclinical product candidates. The two most advanced are ALX1-11 for osteoporosis, in a pivotal Phase III trial, and AMG 073 for hyperparathyroidism, which has been licensed to Thousand Oaks, Calif.-based Amgen Inc., and is in late-stage Phase II trials.

In November, NPS priced a public offering at $42 per share, selling 1 million more shares than it initially filed for, and raising $168 million. As of Dec. 31, the company had $246.9 million in cash. (See BioWorld Today, Nov. 13, 2000.)

NPS's stock (NASDAQ:NPSP) closed Tuesday at $22.75, down $1.562. n