Having already secured regional rights to vTv Therapeutics’ inflammation drug, China’s Newsoara is fronting $20 million to take ownership of the clinical-stage asset across the rest of the world.
The therapy in question is HPP737, a phosphodiesterase type 4 (PDE4) inhibitor that vTv has taken into phase 1 development to treat psoriasis. Newsoara originally secured the rights for the drug in China and various other Pacific Rim countries in 2018 for an undisclosed price.
Targeting PDE4 drives anti-inflammatory and antifibrotic effects and has been put to good use with Arcutis’ psoriasis cream Zoryve and Amgen’s oral psoriasis drug Otezla.
According to vTv Therapeutics, the preclinical and clinical data for HPP737 suggest the oral drug “may be able to expand the therapeutic use for [the PDE4] target, which has been limited by the side effects of currently available PDE4 inhibitors,” such as nausea, vomiting and diarrhea.
Now, Newsoara is willing to hand over $20 million for the global rights to HPP737. The new deal means North Carolina-based vTv could also be in line for up to $50 million in development milestones, $65 million in sales milestones and tiered royalties on sales should Newsoara manage to get HPP737 to market.
“Over the last several years, vTv and Newsoara have enjoyed a productive and collaborative relationship, and this exciting expansion of the relationship will help accelerate the clinical development of our highly differentiated and potential best-in-class PDE4 inhibitor HPP737,” vTv’s chief business officer Rich Nelson said in the release.
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The company’s CEO, Paul Sekhri, said vTv “remain[s] opportunistic in exploring potential collaborations” for its in-house pipeline while it continues to push to get its lead candidate, the Type 1 diabetes drug cadisegliatin, through phase 3 development. The FDA placed a hold on a trial of the liver-selective glucokinase activator in 2024, but the hold was lifted last year.
In this morning’s release, Newsoara CEO Benny Li touted HPP737 as a “highly differentiated oral PDE4 inhibitor with the potential to address unmet needs in inflammation-mediated disease.”
“With this expanded license, we plan to leverage our development and commercialization capabilities to advance HPP737’s progress and, if approved, bring it to patients worldwide,” Li added.
There was a continued buzz of activity in the PDE4 inhibitor space last year, especially around respiratory conditions. This included the approval of Boehringer Ingelheim’s idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) drug Jascayd as well as Merck & Co.’s $10 billion acquisition of Verona Pharma for its approved PDE3 and PED4 inhibitor Ohtuvayre for chronic obstructive pulmonary disorder (COPD).
GSK secured its own PED3/4 inhibitor for COPD as part of a $12 billion biobucks, 12-asset deal with Hengrui Pharma, while Transpire Bio licensed an inhaled PDE4 inhibitor for IPF from China’s Intragrand Pharma.
