Dr Reddy’s in pact with XenoPort to develop psoriasis drug

Hyderabad, March 29: Dr Reddy’s Laboratories and XenoPort Inc, a biopharmaceutical company, have entered into an agreement by which Dr Reddy’s Laboratories will be granted exclusive US rights for the development and commercialisation of XenoPort’s clinical-stage oral new chemical entity, XP23829. DRL said that it will receive rights to develop and commercialize XP23829 for all indications. In return, XenoPort will receive a $47.5 million upfront payment and an additional $2.5 million for transfer of certain clinical trial materials to Dr Reddy’s.

DRL plans to develop XP23829 as a potential treatment for moderate-to-severe chronic plaque psoriasis and may develop the drug for relapsing forms of multiple sclerosis (MS).

XenoPort will also be eligible to receive up to $190 million upon the achievement by Dr Reddy’s Laboratories of certain regulatory milestones. In addition, XenoPort will be eligible to receive up to $250 million upon the achievement of commercial milestones, and up to midteens royalty payments based on potential net sales of XP23829 in the US.

“XP23829 complements our internal development efforts, which have primarily focused on the mild-to-moderate psoriasis segment to date. In other markets, fumarates have been used as first line choices of treatment prior to initiation of biologic therapies in patients with moderate-to-severe psoriasis. We intend to initiate the registration programme for XP23829 as soon as feasible so that we can accelerate the availability of this important treatment choice for moderate-to-severe psoriasis patients in the US market,” Raghav Chari, executive vice president, Proprietary Products Group, DRL, said in a statement.

“As one of our key objectives for 2016, we were interested in finding a strong partner that would recognize the opportunity of this innovative therapy that we believe will make a significant difference in the lives of psoriasis and MS patients. We are now fully focused on our Horizant (gabapentin enacarbil) extended-release tablets commercialization effort,” Vincent J Angotti, chief executive officer, XenoPort, Inc said.