HMR Pulls Out Of Pact With Alliance

Hoechst Marion Roussel and Alliance Pharmaceutical Corp of the USA haveannounced the termination of a worldwide licensing agreement for LiquiVent (perflubron), for the treatment of acute respiratory distress syndrome. The decision comes just four months after Alliance said it was planning to reinitiate Phase III trials for the drug (Marketletter September 8).

HMR, which has invested more than $50 million in the deal, including the acquisition of a small minority stake in Alliance, said that the development plan signed in early 1996 called for a relatively short and straightforward clinical program, with a targeted US approval for pediatric patients in 1998. In explaining the move to end the deal, Richard Markham, the company's chief executive, noted: "developing the product has turned out to be more complex than anticipated."

Mr Markham said that the delay was due to the nature of the disease and was turning out to be more costly than expected. Nevertheless, he said HMR believed LiquiVent to be a commercially viable opportunity, but was a reduced priority in the context of the group's overall development portfolio.