The funds serve as a milestone payment to Omeros for having successfully met preclinical compound optimization criteria. Omeros’s schizophrenia product candidates inhibit the phosphodiesterase 10 (PDE10) enzyme.
Omeros has previously entered into an agreement with the Stanley Medical Research Institute (SMRI) to develop Omeros’s PDE10 inhibitors through Phase I clinical trials.
Under the agreement, Omeros may receive a total of up to $9 million in grant and equity funding from SMRI. Omeros previously announced the receipt of a first tranche of grant and equity funding, $2.6 million, upon the initiation of the agreement with SMRI.
Gregory Demopulos, chairman and CEO of Omeros, said: “The award of this milestone payment reaffirms the strength of the preclinical data generated by our schizophrenia program. We believe that our program could provide product candidates that have benefits not offered by existing anti-psychotics, and we are working to advance into clinical trials in 2010.”