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news.Cypress has entered into an exclusive North American license agreement with BioLineRx for the development and commercialisation of BioLineRx's new antipsychotic drug candidate (BL-1020, hereafter, CYP-1020), for the treatment of schizophrenia.
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BioLineRx has received a total upfront payment of $30m with total clinical and regulatory milestones of up to $160m through to approval in the US, commercial milestones of $85m.
BioLineRx has also gained an additional $90m associated with approval for additional indications in the US or for approval in other countries in North America.
Additionally, Cypress is expected to fund all continuing development activities and pay BioLineRx a royalty based on applicable sales.
According to Cypress and BioLineRx, the license agreement is subject to the consent of the Office of Chief Scientist of the Ministry of Industry, Trade and Labor of the State of Israel (OCS) and OCS may condition providing its consent on the parties’ agreeing to modifications in the license agreement.
Cypress and BioLineRx have agreed to work together to attempt to secure OCS approval on terms that minimise financial and non-financial obligations on the parties that may be imposed as a condition to receipt of the OCS consent.
Further, BioLineRx has agreed to accept sole responsibility for any financial obligations imposed by the OCS.
Additionally, the upfront payment was placed into an escrow account pending receipt of a satisfactory OCS consent and effectiveness of the license agreement.
Jay Kranzler, chairman and CEO of Cypress Bioscience, said: “We believe Cypress has the experience and expertise required to continue the development of CYP-1020, a new antipsychotic that has the possibility to address both the psychotic symptoms and cognitive deficits associated with schizophrenia.”
Kinneret Savitsky, CEO of BioLineRx, said: “We believe that CYP-1020 is especially exciting, insofar as the cognitive impairments associated with schizophrenia reflect such a dramatic unmet medical need.”