Arena Pharma licenses temanogrel to Ildong Pharma for South Korea

The USA’s Arena Pharmaceuticals (Nasdaq: ARNA) has entered into a co-development and license agreement with South Korea’s Ildong Pharmaceutical for temanogrel, Arena's internally discovered inverse agonist of the serotonin 2A receptor.

This is the second deal this month between the two companies The Pharma Letter November 8). Arena entered into a marketing and supply agreement with Ildong for its weight loss drug Belviq (lorcaserin HCl), granting it exclusive rights to market and distribute the product in South Korea for weight loss or weight management in obese and overweight patients, subject to regulatory approval of Belviq by the Korea Food and Drug Administration (KFDA).

The accord grants Ildong exclusive rights to commercialize temanogrel in South Korea for myocardial infarction, acute coronary syndrome, stroke, peripheral artery disease, and other cardiovascular diseases, subject to further development and regulatory approval of temanogrel. Initially, Ildong will be responsible for funding and conducting, under the direction of a joint steering committee, the next two planned clinical trials in this program: an additional Phase I trial in healthy volunteers and a Phase 2a proof-of-concept trial in patients.