Omeros, Daiichi expand PDE7 inhibitor deal to include addiction
This article was originally published in Scrip
Omeros and Daiichi Sankyo have amended their March 2010 partnership to develop phosphodiesterase 7 (PDE7) inhibitors to include addiction and compulsive disorders.
Last year, Omeros received an exclusive licence to develop Daiichi's PDE7 inhibitors as treatments for movement disorders, such as Parkinson's disease, and other specified indications.
Under the amended deal, milestone payments from Omeros to Daiichi have increased from $23.5 million to $30.2 million.
Omeros said it believes that it is the first company to link PDE7 to any addiction or compulsive behaviour.
Omeros CEO Dr Gregory Demopulos said his firm already has selected a clinical candidate for its addiction programme and expects that indication will provide the firm with a "faster and less expensive development pathway" for its PDE7 inhibitors.
Omeros is collaborating with the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) on its addiction programmes.
"We look forward to working with NIDA to advance this programme through the clinic," Dr Demopulos said in a statement.
The company also is partnering with the Michael J. Fox Foundation on its movement disorders programme.
PDE7 appears to modulate the dopaminergic system, which plays a significant role in regulating both movement and addiction. Preclinical data suggest that PDE7 inhibitors may be effective in the treatment of addiction to cocaine and methamphetamine, nicotine and compulsive behaviours, the company said.
Animal models of cocaine addiction have shown that PDE7 inhibitors reduce cocaine self-administration, inhibit relapse induced by cues and stress and facilitate drug abstinence in previously addicted animals, the firm reported. No effect on normal feeding was observed in the cocaine studies, suggesting that PDE7 inhibitors selectively reduce addiction-related behaviours, Omeros said.
In a similarly well-established animal model of binge eating, PDE7 inhibitors demonstrated equally robust efficacy, again showing no effect on normal feeding behaviour, the firm added.
The amended deal with Daiichi expands Omeros' addiction franchise, in which the company already is evaluating peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma (PPAR gamma) agonists for the treatment of addiction in two Phase II studies being conducted by researchers at the New York State Psychiatric Institute.
NIDA is funding substantially all costs of those studies, which are evaluating the effects of PPAR gamma agonists on oxycontin and heroin use.
Pilot human and preclinical data suggest that PPAR gamma agonists may be most effective in the treatment of addiction to opioids, alcohol and nicotine, and that they are less effective for treating addiction to psychostimulants such as cocaine and methamphetamine, according to Omeros.
"Together, the PPAR gamma and PDE7 programmes provide Omeros with a potentially broad franchise of drug treatments for addiction and compulsive disorders," the company said.