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news.GW Pharmaceuticals and Otsuka Pharmaceutical have extended their existing global Cannabinoid research collaboration for three more years.
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GW Pharma and Otsuka signed the agreement in July 2007 with a three year term, and the collaboration is now extended upto the end of June 2013.
As per the research collaboration agreement, GW and Otsuka Pharmaceutical research a range of GW Cannabinoids as potential new drug candidates in the field of Central Nervous System (CNS) disorders and oncology.
Under the extended agreement, Otsuka Pharmaceutical will make a research fund of $12m to cover research activities which will be carried out under the current extension.
GW Pharma and Otsuka said that the objective of the collaboration is to select the most promising candidates for full clinical development, regulatory approval and global commercialisation. Products selected for full development will be the subject of a license from GW
Under the terms of each product license, Otsuka Pharmaceutical will fund the global development and commercialisation of such products, whereas, GW will receive license fees, milestone payments and a long term commercial supply price and royalty.
The financial terms of each license are to be agreed at the time of selection of each product for global development.
The GW-Otsuka research collaboration is led by a joint research team incorporating senior scientists from both companies.
Geoffrey Guy, chairman of GW, said: “Over the last three years, the GW-Otsuka research collaboration has yielded promising data and new intellectual property for GW Cannabinoids across a range of target indications within CNS and oncology.
“We are very pleased that Otsuka has elected to extend this collaboration and believe that this provides a significant endorsement of the potential of GW’s Cannabinoid pipeline.”
Taro Iwamoto, president and representative director of Otsuka Pharmaceutical, said: “We are delighted with the progress of our collaboration with GW Pharmaceuticals in the investigation of Cannabinoids as potential new medicines in the field of CNS and oncology.
“Over the last three years, GW and Otsuka have formed a strong close working relationship and we are excited to be extending our collaboration to develop and commercialise new treatments in order to further our contribution to global well being.”