Curis, Inc., a therapeutic drug development company, has achieved a development milestone under a collaboration with one of its corporate partners, Wyeth Pharmaceuticals. The milestone is based on Wyeth's and Curis' continued progress in preclinical development of Hedgehog pathway agonists for the treatment of stroke, neurological and other disorders. The milestone will trigger a modest payment from Wyeth to Curis in accordance with the terms of their 2004 agreement.
The Hedgehog signaling pathway regulates the normal development of the brain and spinal cord. Wyeth and Curis are collaborating to develop several promising small molecule agonist compounds that can activate the Hedgehog signaling pathway and thereby promote nervous system repair. Many of these small molecules are orally available and can enter into the brain and spinal cord, thus making them an attractive new class of drug development candidates for neurological disorders.
Daniel Passeri, president and CEO of Curis, said, "The achievement of this milestone is an important next step in the path of bringing these promising drug candidates towards clinical trials and ultimately to the patients who need them."
In January 2004, Curis licensed its Hedgehog proteins and novel small molecule Hedgehog pathway agonists to Wyeth for therapeutic applications in the treatment of neurological and other disorders. Under the terms of the agreement, Wyeth has paid Curis a license fee, has been providing financial support for a minimum of two years of Curis research dedicated to the programme, and will make additional cash payments to Curis upon the successful achievement of development, clinical, and drug approval milestones. Wyeth will also pay a royalty on net product sales that escalates with increasing sales volume.
As part of the agreement, Curis has retained development and licensing options for certain therapeutic applications of the Hedgehog agonist technologies, including topical applications for hair growth and local delivery applications for treatment of cardiovascular disease.