Glenmark gets $10 m from Forest for clinical trial

The Switzerland subsidiary of Glenmark Pharma India has received $10 million as milestone payment from Forest Laboratories on successful completion of the first phase of clinical trials on Glenmark's phospohodieterase-IV (PDE4) inhibitor GRC 3886.

GRC 3886 is an orally available PDE4 inhibitor in development for chronic obstructive pulmonary disorder and asthma. In a media release, Glenn Saldanha, managing director and chief executive officer, stated that initial studies of the new product have reflected good tolerance and exhibits predictable pharmacokinetics in human volunteers.

The drug has also exhibited a long half life implying that a once daily dose regimen may be possible in future studies.

Glenmark and Forest had entered into an agreement in September 2004 for GRC 3886 under which the latter would develop, register and commecialize GRC 3886 for the North American market. This is the second payment from Forest to Glenmark (S.A).

Meanwhile, the Japanese based Tejin Pharma has also entered into a similar agreement with the Switzerland subsidiary where the former will have the exclusive right to develop, register and commercialize GRE 3886 for the Japanese market. Glenmark is in talks with a potential partners in Europe as well.

Saldhana said that once the production of the drug starts taking place in the Japanese market, Teijin will pay annual sums that are marginally higher than the first quartile of net sales of the product towards supply of active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) and royalties.

Saldhana said the tie-up was part of the company's strategy to have such arrangement with strong regional companies for the regulated markets of North America, Japan and Europe.

The company expects to find a European partner for the drug by the end of the financial year 2006.