Under the agreement, Jazz will develop Concert’s deuterium-modified sodium oxybate (D-SXB) compounds, including C-10323, and will have worldwide commercial rights to C-10323 as well as principal responsibility for ongoing development activities.
Sodium oxybate is the active ingredient in Xyrem, a prescription medicine developed by Jazz Pharmaceuticals to treat two of the key symptoms of narcolepsy, a serious neurological disorder.
Jazz Pharmaceuticals research and development and chief medical officer executive vice president Jeffrey Tobias said the company’s agreement with Concert on the D-SXB program provides to explore the potential of deuterium technology in treating narcolepsy symptoms.
"We look forward to advancing this program into clinical testing in order to further evaluate its potential to provide benefits for patients with narcolepsy," Tobias added.
Jazz will pay upfront fees to Concert, and will provide additional milestone payments as well as tiered royalties, based on potential worldwide sales of any D-SXB products.
Concert Pharmaceuticals president and chief executive officer Roger Tung said, "Preclinical data indicate that selective deuterium incorporation can stabilize sodium oxybate in vivo and we are eager to see how this improvement in metabolic properties is reflected in the clinical performance of D-SXB."
The companies are planning to submit an investigational new drug (IND) application for C-10323 later in 2013.