Confo Therapeutics NV is banking an up-front payment of $40 million from a licensing deal with Eli Lilly and Co. involving its lead asset, CFTX-1554, an oral inhibitor of the angiotensin II type 2 receptor, which is in phase I development for neuropathic pain. The deal includes up to $590 million more in potential milestones and tiered sales royalties. Ghent, Belgium-based Confo could also secure a further $590 million in additional milestones should Indianapolis-based Lilly elect to take forward an antibody-based inhibitor directed against the same target.
Lateral Pharma Pty. Ltd. has discovered peptides targeting LanC-like (LANCL) proteins reported to be useful for the treatment of diabetes, infections, inflammation, obesity, pain, metabolic, muscle and neurological disorders, among others.
Seven new U.S. medtechs are poised to make a splash in the diagnosis and treatment of nervous system disorders thanks to funding under a new program within the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Blueprint for Neuroscience Research called Blueprint Medtech.
A research team led by assistant professor Min-Ho Seo of Busan, South Korea’s Pusan National University have developed a soft, bioresorbable, implantable device to relieve neuropathic pain by cooling peripheral nerves.
Biodol Therapeutics, a portfolio company of V-Bio Ventures, has nominated its first preclinical candidate for neuropathic pain. The candidate is a small-molecule allosteric FLT3 inhibitor, suitable for chronic oral administration and without the safety limitations of less specific intracellular kinase inhibitors.
Neurofront Therapeutics Ltd. has picked up an option to acquire exclusive Asia rights to a phase II non-opioid drug from Novaremed AG. Under terms of the deal, Novaremed is eligible to receive more than $130 million in option and exercise fees as well as development, regulatory and sales milestone payments plus royalties on net sales.
In a move that Lexicon Pharmaceuticals Inc. chief Lonnel Coats said will focus the company on its phase II neuropathic pain program, The Woodlands, Texas-based venture has agreed to sell one of its two approved products, the carcinoid syndrome diarrhea therapy Xermelo (telotristat ethyl), to Tersera Therapeutics LLC for $159 million in cash.
Redpin Therapeutics Inc., of New York, plans to take its newly secured $15.5 million series A financing to continue developing its ion-channel based chemogenetics platform for addressing neural circuit dysfunctions such as epilepsy, neuropathic pain and Parkinson’s disease.
