BRIEF—Alfresa in deal with K Pharma for ropinirole commercialization

Japanese pharma company Alfresa has entered into a licensing deal with K Pharma to develop and commercialize ropinirole in Japan for the treatment of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS).

Ropinirole is usually used to treat Parkinson's disease, but K Pharma, a Tokyo-based biotech under Keio University with a focus on developing iPS cell-based novel treatments, made it a potential candidate to treat ALS, which affects about 10,000 people in Japan.

Alfresa said the deal was forged by positive results from Phase I/IIa studies.