BioXell takes back BXL746 from Roche

Milan, Italy-based BioXell SpA has exercised the option to acquire the novel vitamin D3 analog, BXL746, from Swiss drug major Roche. Based on promising preclinical data, the agent will be moved into Phase II clinical development for the treatment of post-surgical adhesions.

Adhesions are bands of scar tissue that link anatomic sites not normally connected. They develop through an inflammatory process when the body's repair mechanisms respond to tissue disturbances as the result of surgery, infection, trauma or radiation. A third of surgical patients and 60%-90% of those undergoing major gynecological surgery experience abdominal adhesions, which account for 40% of all cases of intestinal obstruction and increase operating times and post-operative complications.

In the USA alone, more than 2 million adults are affected annually. Current methods to prevent adhesion formation are only marginally effective. Nonetheless, worldwide sales of products for the prevention of surgical adhesions, including bioresorbable barrier films and viscous polymer solutions, were estimated at $400.0 million in 2005, and are expected to exceed $1.0 billion by 2011, BioXell noted.