Pipex to acquire license for oral flupirtine patent

Pursuant to the terms of the option agreement, Pipex has the option to exclusively license pending application and corresponding US patent application as well as patents issued and pending in additional countries. The potential therapeutic indications covered by the additional intellectual property estate include glaucoma, age-related macular degeneration, retinitis pigmentosa, diabetic maculopathy, and diabetic retinopathy.

Pipex’s Flupirtine use in treating various ophthalmic disorders is supported by promising clinical evidence generated by the clinical investigator and inventor of the intellectual property that is the subject of the option agreement. Preclinical data and clinical experience suggests that flupirtine should be effective for neuropathic pain since it acts in the central nervous system.

Steve Kanzer, chairman and CEO of Pipex, said: “We are pleased to enter into this agreement to license this intellectual property to enhance our patent estate for flupirtine and complement our ophthalmic franchise which includes oral zinc-monocysteine which has already completed an 80-patient, six month, double-masked, placebo-controlled Phase II clinical trial for dry age-related macular degeneration, the publication of our positive results of which are expected shortly.”