Eagle Pharma and UPenn collaborating on Alzheimer's research

Adding to the so far unsuccessful pursuit of trying to find an effective treatment for the devasting condition, Eagle Pharmaceuticals (Nasdaq: EGRX) late Monday announced that Eagle and the University of Pennsylvania (Penn) have agreed on terms of a new exclusive worldwide license agreement for the development of dantrolene sodium for the potential treatment of people living with Alzheimer’s disease, including an agreement to fund additional research and provisions regarding commercialization of products developed under the license.

Under the trade name Ryanodex, dantrolene is currently approved for the treatment of malignant hyperthermia (MH) and for the prevention of MH in patients at high risk.

“Our collaboration with University of Pennsylvania builds on Eagle’s strategy to develop and commercialize therapies for critical care and disorders that have significant unmet patient needs, such as Alzheimer’s disease, the most common form of dementia,” stated Scott Tarriff, chief executive of Eagle Pharmaceuticals, whose shares closed up 2.88% at $60.07 on Monday.