NicOx climbs on Merck antihypertensive agreement

Under the terms of the agreement, NicOx will receive an upfront payment of approximately $11.2 million and is eligible for potential further milestone payments of approximately $340.2 million.

The agreement follows the successful completion of the companies’ research collaboration, which has generated promising results.

NicOx has the option to co-promote on a fee-for-detail basis products that result from the agreement to specialist physicians, such as cardiologists, in the US and certain major European countries. In addition, Merck will pay NicOx industry standard royalties on the sales of all products resulting from the collaboration.

The agreement covers nitric oxide-donating derivatives of several major classes of antihypertensive agents for the treatment of high blood pressure, complications of hypertension, and other cardiovascular and related disorders. Merck has the exclusive right to develop and commercialize antihypertensives that use NicOx’s nitric oxide-donating technology for the treatment of systemic hypertension.

NicOx will continue to be involved in the new research program, which will be focused on identifying lead candidates for development, while Merck will fund and manage all further preclinical and clinical development activities following selection of lead compounds.

“We are very pleased to be entering into this new collaboration with NicOx, which aims to address one of the world’s leading health problems,” said Dr Anthony Ford-Hutchinson, executive vice president, research medicine, Merck Research Laboratories. “We believe NicOx’s innovative NO-donating technology has the potential to lead to the development of new and improved antihypertensive medicines.”