AltheRx buys GSK mid-stage cast-off OAB/IBS drug solabegron

AltheRx Pharmaceuticals, a privately-held US clinical development company set up just a year ago, says it has purchased all assets related to solabegron (GW-427353) from UK pharma giant GlaxoSmithKline (LSE: GSK), making it the first product for the US firm.

Solabegron is a highly selective and potent beta3-adrenoceptor agonist that has demonstrated positive results in Phase II clinical programs for the treatment of overactive bladder (OAB) in women and irritable bowel syndrome (IBS). Solabegron also demonstrated a favorable tolerability profile across all Phase II studies. However, after taking the compound through Phase II clinical studies, GSK halted work on it.

AltheRx chief executive officer Shawn O'Brien said it had taken his three-person firm about a year to complete the deal. "There are tons of assets in Big Pharma that are not getting moved around these days," he said, reported by the Philadelphia Enquirer. Mr O'Brien declined to disclose how much cash AltheRx paid to acquire solabegron. But he had a simple explanation for how his small Chadds Ford-based company came to identify this compound from among the hundreds that big drug companies have given up on over the years: He had some great firsthand information, in that Eliot Ohlstein, AltheRx’ chief scientific officer, was previously senior vice president of the Urology and Cardiovascular CEDD at GSK.