IACTA Pharmaceuticals and Pharmaleads to Develop the World’s First Epithelial Protective Drug Harnessing Endogenous Analgesia for the Topical Treatment of Acute and Chronic Ocular Pain
IACTA Pharmaceuticals and Pharmaleads announced they have entered into licensing agreements with IACTA acquiring global rights to Pharmaleads’ Dual Enkephalinase Inhibitors (DENKI), a novel class of non-opioid compounds for the treatment of acute and chronic ocular pain.
“With this agreement, IACTA and Pharmaleads will collaborate to develop next-generation pain treatments to help the millions of people across the globe living with the debilitating effects of ocular pain,” Damon Burrows, CEO of IACTA, said in a company news release. “We believe that the epithelial protective properties of DENKI observed in preclinical studies, combined with its pain-relieving properties will revolutionize eye care.”
“Today’s announcement further exemplifies IACTA’s business momentum, as we continue to foster research and development initiatives to address unmet medical needs in the global eye care market,” Mr. Burrows said.
Under the terms of these agreements, Pharmaleads and Pharmaleads Greater China have granted IACTA an exclusive, worldwide, royalty-bearing license to lead the clinical and commercial development of IC800 (acute) and IC805 (chronic) and other DENKI drugs from Pharmaleads’ portfolio. Pharmaleads and Pharmaleads Greater China will together be eligible to receive up to $100 million in total deal value including upfront, development, regulatory, and commercial milestone payments.
Based on the ocular preclinical package already available and human systemic safety data, IACTA expects to start human proof of concept trials in ocular pain in 2021.
“We are thrilled to be partnering with IACTA, as we remain focused on advancing our pipeline of candidates targeting pain management, including a program for acute migraine headache. This partnership will give us the opportunity to accelerate the development of our drugs and to bring alternative non-addictive pain treatments to address the opiate crisis,” Tanja Ouimet, PhD, COO of Pharmaleads, said in the news release. “IACTA’s expertise in the development of ocular drugs will reveal the full potential of DENKI-based treatments to protect and extend the life of enkephalins expressed locally on the eye surface and work to bring the first dedicated ocular pain treatments to the market and to many suffering patients who currently have no treatment for their pain besides NSAIDs or opiates.”
“This partnership stands for a pivotal move toward our organization’s overall strategic direction to foster opportunities for delivering transformative treatments which at the same time puts the human aspect of medicine in focus,” Tian Ye, CEO of Pharmaleads Greater China, said in the news release. “We believe that as a first-of-its-kind treatment in non-addictive pain management, this breakthrough alternative has unprecedented potential in addressing unmet medical needs in eye care.”