Danish pharma company Union Therapeutics has entered into an agreement with TFF Pharmaceuticals for an option to license TFF’s dry powder niclosamide, the companies announced. The deal includes potential inhaled and oral formulations of niclosamide for the treatment of COVID-19 and is worth up to $210 million in milestone payments as well as royalties on any sales.
Oral niclosamide is approved in the US and Europe for the treatment of tapeworm infections. Numerous other indications for niclosamide have been proposed, and screening of drugs for potential COVID-19 repurposing found that the drug has broad anti-viral activity. Union has been developing niclosamide for the treatment of inflammatory skin diseases, including atopic dermatitis and rosacea for a number of years; the company is currently conducting a clinical trial of niclosamide as a potential inhaled treatment for COVID-19.
TFF recently announced that it had secured approximately $26 million in a private placement “to accelerate the expansion of the company’s internal development portfolio beyond its programs for voriconazole and tacrolimus inhalation powders.”
Union Chief Scientific Officer Morten Sommer said, “Our hope is for the consolidated efforts under the agreement to enable Union to leverage our extensive knowledge of niclosamide and further accelerate the development of treatment options to a broader range of COVID-19 patients. We look forward to working with the team at TFF Pharmaceuticals to leverage the TFF technology platform in bringing new treatment options to COVID-19 patients.”
TFF Pharmaceuticals President and CEO Glenn Mattes commented, “We are very excited to be entering into this agreement with Union Therapeutics, a company that has had an extensive history working with niclosamide and the compound class in a number of therapeutic areas. We believe this agreement will help speed up efforts to investigate the promising use of niclosamide for potential COVID-19 therapies using our breakthrough TFF technology to provide a viable therapeutic option with a new delivery method.”
Mattes added, “We’ve made significant progress in the past three months in our efforts to examine niclosamide for potential COVID-19 applications. This agreement will further those efforts as well as provide a number of opportunities to synergize both our company’s drug portfolios in new, potentially more effective combinations for eventual commercialization.”
Read the TFF Pharmaceuticals press release.
Read the Union Therapeutics press release.
