Pulmatrix has announced a licensing agreement with Vectura for US development of Pulmatrix’s PUR0200 dry powder tiotropium formulation for the treatment of COPD. Vectura will pay Pulmatrix a $1 million “technology access fee” on achievement of certain milestones and will take responsibility for US development beginning immediately.
According its own announcement, Vectura will use PUR0200 to advance development of its VR410 branded tiotropium DPI, delivering the formulation using its own dry powder inhaler device technology, and then plans to license VR410 for final development and commercialization. Vectura may also choose to develop combination products that include PUR0200.
Mylan partnered with Pulmatrix on outside-of-US development of PUR0200 in 2015. In July 2016, Pulmatrix announced positive Phase 1 results for PUR0200 showing that the therapeutically equivalent dose for PUR0200 was significantly less than for Spiriva.
Pulmatrix CEO Robert Clarke commented, “Vectura has deep experience with inhaled drugs and innovative dry powder delivery technologies which makes them an optimal partner to advance PUR0200 as a better product for COPD patients. By out-licensing the program to Vectura, PUR0200 is in the hands of a partner with a demonstrated ability to develop drugs for COPD and allows Pulmatrix to focus on our product pipeline including PUR1900 and PUR1800.”
Vectura CEO James Ward-Lilley said, “With this agreement Vectura now has active substitutable or branded generic development programs for all the major established inhaled products in the US market. Tiotropium is one of the largest opportunities in the inhaled respiratory market and the agreement with Pulmatrix enables Vectura to accelerate its plans for both monotherapy and combination programs. The development of inhaled generics requires specialized capabilities which are scarce in the industry but are core competencies of Vectura. Today’s announcement is part of the expanded generic portfolio enabled through the merger of Vectura and Skyepharma.”
Read the Pulmatrix press release.
Read the Vectura press release.
