Tioga Pharmaceuticals Enters Into License Agreement With Ono Pharmaceuticals

Tioga Pharmaceuticals (Tioga) and Ono Pharmaceutical (Ono) has entered into an exclusive license agreement under which Ono has licensed rights to develop and commercialise asimadoline in Japan, South Korea and Taiwan. Tioga retains all other rights to asimadoline.

Under the terms of the agreement, Ono is responsible for developing and commercialising asimadoline in Japan, South Korea and Taiwan. Ono’s initial development of asimadoline will focus on diarrhea predominant irritable bowel syndrome (D-IBS).

Reportedly, Tioga will receive an upfront payment and development and commercial milestone payments. Ono will also pay Tioga a royalty on the sales of asimadoline in Japan, South Korea and Taiwan.

Tioga plans to initiate phase III development of asimadoline for D-IBS in the US in the first quarter of 2010, and Ono plans to start phase I studies in Japan during the first half of 2010.

Gyo Sagara, president, representative director and CEO of Ono, said: “We are pleased to gain rights to develop and commercialise asimadoline in Japan, South Korea and Taiwan from Tioga, a bio-pharmaceutical company focusing on developing novel treatments for gastrointestinal diseases. The medical needs of D-IBS patients currently are not well satisfied.

Asimadoline is expected to provide features that are not offered by existing therapies as it has demonstrated efficacy particularly in abdominal pain and discomfort with good safety profiles in clinical testing to date. We will expeditiously promote the clinical development of asimadoline in Japan, and do our best to make the drug available for the D-IBS patients as quickly as possible.