Amarin acquires novel oral apomorphine

The UK's Amarin Corp has acquired the global rights to a novel oral formulation of apomorphine for the treatment of off episodes in patients with advanced Parkinson's disease, which provides rapid absorption of the approved agent directly into the bloodstream after sublingual administration.

The London-headquartered firm said that this novel formulation would offer patients an improved alternative to the currently-available injectable forms of apomorphine, noting that it has already completed a proof-of-concept study that showed its oral bioavailability in human volunteers while also being well-tolerated. Amarin says it will conduct additional formulation development work and plans to commence final-stage clinical trials next year.

The neuroscience specialist drugmaker acquired the rights to the new formulation from Anthony Clarke, its vice president of clinical development, who invented it and filed the related patent before joining the firm.