Under the license agreement, Presidio becomes responsible for all further development and commercialization activities and costs relating to the program. XTL will receive an upfront payment of $4 million, and up to an additional $104 million upon reaching certain development and commercialization milestones. In addition, XTL will receive a royalty on direct product sales by Presidio, and a percentage of Presidio’s income if the program is sublicensed by Presidio to a third party.
The program focuses on the development of novel small molecule inhibitors against the hepatitis C virus, and is presently in advanced stages of lead optimization. The current lead compounds target NS5A – a viral protein that is essential for viral production. The program’s lead compounds are highly potent inhibitors of viral replication in the replicon assay, which is known to have good correlation with clinical efficacy and is currently the leading method for preclinical testing of inhibitors of the hepatitis C virus.
Ron Bentsur, XTL’s CEO said: “We believe that this transaction extends our financial resources well into the first quarter of 2009, and provides us with a financial cushion as we head towards the completion and announcement of results from the Bicifadine Phase IIb study, expected in the fourth quarter of 2008.”