Trigen obtains license to GPVI Technology

Under the agreement Millennium will receive upfront payments, payments for development and regulatory milestones, and sales royalties on future products. Specific financial details were not disclosed.

GPVI is a key collagen receptor on the platelet surface. Its contact with ruptured atherosclerotic plaques initiates activation and subsequent aggregation of platelets to form a clot. Heart attacks and strokes occur when such clots form in the coronary arteries or in the cerebral circulation.

Trigen has a range of GPVI-related programs including its lesion-specific anti-thrombotic agent, PR-15, which was acquired through the merger with ProCorde in April 2005.

GPVI modulators have the potential to prevent arterial thrombosis during acute coronary syndromes more effectively than existing agents by acting earlier in the platelet activation process and may therefore represent a new generation of anti-thrombotic agents.

“Since our merger with ProCorde in 2005, we have expanded our activities focused on the GPVI mechanism. We are now convinced that this is a target with the potential to yield revolutionary new therapies for the management of arterial thrombosis and associated pathologies,” commented Dr Sanjay Kakkar, Trigen's CEO.