Samaritan Pharmaceuticals Inc, a developer of innovative drugs, announced that, under a March 9, 2007 agreement with Pharmaplaz, Ltd., a private Irish healthcare company, where Samaritan receives $10 million non-refundable upfront money in two payments to develop and commercialise HIV entry inhibitor drug SP-01A, they have received the second upfront payment of $8.6M.
Under the terms of the agreement, Samaritan received $1.4 million of the $10 million upfront payment upon the signing of the agreement. Pharmaplaz takes financial responsibility for the future development of SP-01A and upon successful commercialisation; Samaritan and Pharmaplaz will share 50-50 in SP-01A's revenue royalty stream.
"We are exceptionally pleased. This $8.6 million allows us to push three potential blockbuster drugs forward. We plan to push forward with our promising Phase I Alzheimer's drug, Caprospinol, our 'oral' hepatitis C drug SP-30 and our fast acting plaque removing cholesterol drug, SP-1000,'' said, Dr. Janet Greeson, CEO, Samaritan
SP-01A is an oral HIV entry inhibitor drug. Clinical studies to date suggest that SP-01A prevents HIV from entering cells by inhibiting HIV-1 viral replication through a novel mechanism that is unique to any antiviral drug. SP-01A reduces intracellular cholesterol and corticosteroid biosynthesis, which causes the inability of lipid rafts in the cellular membrane to organize, ultimately preventing fusion of an HIV receptor and both the CCR5 and CXCR4 cellular receptors.
Pharmaplaz is a fully integrated pharmaceutical company located in Athlone, Ireland. Pharmaplaz develops patented pharmaceutical technologies and products for partners, providing access to revenue streams that are exempt from taxation on a worldwide basis -- a benefit enjoyed by all Irish-based high-technology companies.
Samaritan Pharmaceuticals is a life science company focused on commercialising its pipeline of innovative drugs to relieve the suffering of patients with Alzheimer's, cancer, heart disease, and infectious disease. Samaritan's business strategy is to partner drug candidates in its pipeline after phase II (proof of concept) human studies.