Sunovion announces novel drug discovery partnership

Sunovion Pharmaceuticals, a wholly-owned US subsidiary of Japanese drug major Dainippon Sumitomo Pharma (TYO: 4508) and privately-held US biotech firm Afraxis have signed a partnership agreement to utilize the unique Enhanced Spine Platform (ESP) developed by Afraxis, to accelerate Sunovion’s preclinical central nervous system (CNS) drug discovery process.

The use of this proprietary platform will allow Sunovion to identify novel CNS compounds that are potentially superior to existing treatments. While the full financial terms have not been disclosed, Afraxis will be eligible for certain milestone payments for each compound through Phase II clinical trial initiation.

Earlier this year, Afraxis signed a similar deal with France’s Servier (The Pharma Letter April 30). It also entered a research collaboration with Roche/Genentech worth a potential $187.5 million to the US firm (TPL January 30).