Summit licenses imino sugar compound for infectious diseases
This article was originally published in Scrip
Summit has licensed the worldwide rights to a sugar compound with potential for treating infectious diseases associated with bio-terrorism to Evolva Biotech. The UK company will receive an undisclosed payment for the second-generation imino sugar SMT 14400. Summit is also eligible for payment on filing an IND, which is expected in 2010, and further development and regulatory milestones. It will receive tiered royalties of up to a low-teen percentage and sales-related milestones on successful commercialisation. Evolva will cover all developmental costs for the initial synthesis work. The agreement replaces a co-development agreement signed in July 2007. SMT 14400 is an immunomodulator that selectively boosts aspects of the human immune system. In vivo studies have shown it to be active against viral and bacterial pathogens and well tolerated. SMT 14400 is the first compound that Summit has licensed from its proprietary collection of second-generation compounds.