Under an agreement announced in April 2005, SkyePharma has received $10 million to date from Mundipharma, primarily to fund the phase II clinical trials for DepoBupivacaine, an extended-release injectable formulation of the widely-used local anaesthetic bupivacaine.
SkyePharma will now pay $5 million for the marketing and distribution rights and for data generated during the drug’s phase II clinical program.
SkyePharma will also obtain rights to the clinical data from the phase II trials of DepoBupivacaine. This is expected to simplify the ongoing divestment process of SkyePharma’s injectables unit.
“DepoBupivacaine is the most important near-term product in the injectables pipeline and therefore a key component of the value of this business unit,” commented SkyePharma’s chief executive Frank Condella.