News blog
Proximagen Neuroscience
- BY: Andrew Hore |
- POSTED: 25/07/2008 |
Proximagen Neurosciences has signed an important deal for its Parkinson’s disease treatment.
The deal relates to PRX1, which is a programme for the symptomatic treatment of Parkinson’s disease based on an improved version of L-Dopa – a known treatment. Proximagen spoke to a number of interested parties and decided on Minnesota-based Upsher-Smith because it got on with the management and they agreed to payments based on milestones as well as royalties if there is a commercial product.
Proximagen says that the upfront and milestone payments alone could come to $232m (£117m). There is still a long way to go before all this money will be paid. There will be an upfront payment but most of the money will be nearer the end of the testing programme.
Ken Mulvany, chief executive of Proximagen, says that phase I trials to asses the safety of the treatment should start this year. Phase II studies should commence before the end of next year. Because L-Dopa is an existing treatment there is a better chance that the treatment will successfully pass through these phases but there is no guarantee.
Proximagen says that if a commercial treatment is launched it is entitled to “up to double-digit royalties on global product sales on an escalating royalty basis”.
Upsher-Smith also intends to invest $6m (£3.03m) in Proximagen shares at a price that is likely to be set at double the existing level of the share price. That would give it a 7.1% stake in the company and it may even consider a further investment in the shares.
This means that the development of PRX1 is financed and Proximagen can use the £8.5m of cash it had at the end of November 2007 to finance the development of other treatments. This includes PRX5, which is a potential treatment for cognitive decline related to Parkinson’s disease. Proximagen is still choosing the best compound for the treatment.
At 95p a share, Proximagen is valued at £19.1m.
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