Ore Pharmaceuticals announced that it has acquired from Roche the exclusive development rights for the clinical-stage compound romazarit. Ore Pharmaceuticals had previously identified potentially novel therapeutic uses for romazarit in metabolic diseases and subsequently observed a lowering of lipids, weight, and glucose levels in in vivo testing.
The company filed recently for patent protection regarding the use of the compound for treatment of metabolic diseases. Ore Pharmaceuticals plans to further develop romazarit, select the most appropriate of the potential indications, and prepare for phase-II clinical trials. The company will engage in out-licensing efforts in parallel with development efforts.
Ore Pharmaceuticals acquired the development rights for romazarit through its partnership with Roche, where it was initially developed as an anti-inflammatory compound and had reached phase-II clinical testing for rheumatoid arthritis. Repositioning efforts at Ore Pharmaceuticals discovered that romazarit modulates a key pathway related to metabolic function.
Thomas Barnes, Ph D, senior vice president of Discovery at Ore Pharmaceuticals, said, "Romazarit joins tiapamil and GL1001 as success stories resulting from our indication seeking program. Based on the data derived from our program, we initiated in vivo tests and were pleased to observe decreases in lipid levels, body weight, and plasma glucose in various preclinical models. There are significant opportunities for development in each of these areas."
Stephen Donahue, M D, senior vice president of Clinical Development at Ore Pharmaceuticals, said, "Romazarit has exhibited potential for treating dyslipidemia and other highly prevalent metabolic conditions such as obesity. The compound was well tolerated in clinical testing, and has been well characterized by Roche in prior studies."
Ore Pharmaceuticals chief executive officer, Charles L Dimmler, III, commented, "Our top priority goal has been to increase the number of compounds in our development pipeline. We are extremely pleased with the recent acquisition of development rights to tiapamil and romazarit, two high-quality compounds originated and studied by Roche. We believe that the potential indications for romazarit - obesity and lipid lowering in particular - make the compound an attractive partnering candidate for pharmaceutical companies. Further, we anticipate the acquisition of additional repositioned drug candidates in the near term."
Ore Pharmaceuticals currently has three compounds in its development pipeline: romazarit, tiapamil (beginning development for CNS), and GL1001 (in development for Inflammatory Bowel Disease). The company cleared FDA review of the GL1001 IND and plans to resume clinical trials on that compound later in 2008. Ore Pharmaceuticals is currently seeking a development partner for the late-stage development of GL1001 and tiapamil.
Ore Pharmaceuticals is a commercial drug development company. We have applied our proprietary know how in integrative pharmacology to identify potential new uses for drug candidates. Ore's goal is to meet the demands of the pharmaceutical industry by supplying development stage drug compounds to enrich drug development pipelines.