NicOx to acquire NO-donating patents from Nitromed

Under the terms of the agreement, NicOx will pay Nitromed E2 million at signature and a further E4 million upon NicOx fulfilling certain future business criteria. NicOx is not acquiring any rights to BiDil (isosorbide dinitrate/hydralazine hydrochloride).

Nitromed said that it has halted its drug discovery research programs in March 2006, due to financial considerations. This research had previously been focused on synthesizing and patenting new chemical entities combining an existing, marketed medicine with a nitric oxide donor.

NicOx said that it is acquiring the vast majority of the resulting patents, which represent Nitromed’s unlicensed intellectual property portfolio on nitric oxide- donating compounds. This includes numerous composition of matter and treatment patents in the US and other important pharmaceutical markets, many of which have expiration dates later than 2020.

These include a large number with potential uses for inflammatory and cardiometabolic disorders, which are core areas of focus for NicOx’s internal R&D. NicOx is also taking royalty free licenses to additional patents under this agreement, which it considers strategically important.

Ennio Ongini, vice president of research at NicOx, said: “Between them, NicOx and Nitromed filed the vast majority of the patent applications on nitric oxide donation and today’s agreement consolidates NicOx’s leading position in this area. Taking complete ownership of these patents will allow NicOx to become even more versatile in its application of this complex technology and expand the areas where we can potentially initiate new internal research programs.”