LONDON - CeNeS Pharmaceuticals plc entered its second drug delivery deal in a month, this one with Bioglan Pharma plc for the development of an aerosol-delivered opioid analgesic to treat severe pain.

Bioglan is making a #1 million (US$1.6 million) equity investment in CeNeS for 1 million shares at #1 each, but apart from this the agreement reverses the traditional format of biotech/pharma deals. CeNeS has agreed to an exclusive license for the opioid analgesic, currently under development at Bioglan, and will pay a non-refundable license fee. Bioglan will continue to run and fund the development program and regulatory work, and will manufacture the finished product. CeNeS will market the product in Europe and will pay royalties.

Dan Roach, CEO of CeNeS, of Cambridge, England, told BioWorld International the collaboration may broaden to include other opioid analgesics. "We hope this will be the start of an important relationship with Bioglan. Both companies have comparable aims and expertise in the field of drug delivery and pain management."

He added, "This agreement emphasizes our interest in pain and our strategy of building a portfolio of products that are close to market."

CeNeS is in the process of setting up a European sales and marketing operation, and the aerosol anaesthetic, which it expects to launch within the next three years, will be the third severe pain product in its portfolio. Ironically, UK marketing rights to its lead product, Moraxen, acquired when it took over Core Group plc last September, have already been given to Schwartz Pharma plc.

Roach would not disclose the compound to be developed, an opiate that has been in several forms of administration for many years. The new formulation will use Bioglan's proprietary sublingual spray device, allowing the drug to be self-administered for rapid pain relief.

The two partners say that being fast-acting and easy to administer will give the product a significant commercial advantage. It is intended to treat episodes of breakthrough pain in patients who are already taking long-term medication, such as morphine, to treat moderate or mild pain.

CeNeS also granted Bioglan, of Hitchin, Hertfordshire, the option to subscribe up to an additional #2 million of new CeNeS shares, at any time until Jan. 31, 2003.

This is CeNeS' third deal since it achieved its public listing in December by reversing into Core Group plc, a quoted drug delivery company based in Irvine, Scotland. On Jan. 4 CeNeS announced the acquisition of a package of data from Nycomed Amersham plc to support its development of M6G, a natural metabolite of morphine, for the treatment of severe pain. Then, later in the month, it signed a deal with an unnamed pharmaceutical company worth #2.4 million over three years for the development of a new formulation of a drug, using delivery technology it acquired with Core.

Roach said, "We have only been around as a quoted company for six weeks, but we have high growth momentum, driven by commercial deals. We will continue to be very energetic."