AstraZeneca and Daiichi team up for constipation drug
pharmafile | March 19, 2015 | News story | Sales and Marketing | AstraZeneca, Daiichi, Movantik, constipation, naloxegol, oic
AstraZeneca and Daiichi Sankyo have signed a deal worth around $825 million to jointly commercialise constipation drug Movantik in the US.
Movantik (naloxegol) is a first-in-class once-daily oral peripherally-acting mu-opioid receptor antagonist for the treatment of opioid-induced constipation (OIC) in adults with chronic non-cancer pain.
It was approved by the FDA last year and under the terms of today’s agreement will be manufactured and sold by AstraZeneca. Both companies will be jointly responsible for commercial activities.
“We are delighted to collaborate with Daiichi Sankyo to expand our commercialisation efforts in the US in order to get this important medicine to the large number of patients suffering with opioid-induced constipation,” says Paul Hudson, who is the president of AstraZeneca US and executive VP of North America.
Japanese pharma giant Daiichi will pay a $200 million up-front fee to AZ, plus subsequent sales-related payments of up to $625 million in the deal.
President of US commercial at Daiichi, Ken Keller, comments: “Movantik represents an opportunity to help patients manage one of the most common conditions arising from widely used pain medications, as well as an opportunity to continue to build the Daiichi Sankyo US portfolio of medicines in this therapeutic area.”
The treatment has been developed to block the binding of opioids which are chemicals that resemble morphine to relieve pain – to receptors in tissues such as the gastrointestinal tract.
OIC is a condition caused by prescription opioid pain medicines. Opioids work by binding to mu-receptors in the central nervous system, but they can also bind to mu-receptors in the bowel which can result in patients suffering from OIC.
The incidence of OIC in patients with chronic pain varies, but is known to be on the high end. Movantik is also available in the EU to treat OIC in adults who have had an inadequate response to laxatives.
Tom Robinson
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