The US-based Nobex Corporation, a private pre-clinical stage biopharmaceuticals company specializing in the development of oral peptide therapeutics with a specific focus on developing products for chronic indications in the metabolic and cardiovascular therapeutic areas, is hoping to have a sale of assets approved prior to the end of March 2006.

Nobex has filed for bankruptcy protection on Dec 1, 2005 in the US Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware, after 12 years of research operations and developing a portfolio of approximately 300 patents and patent applications, including several product candidates that have been in clinical study.

Charles L Dimmler, III, chairman, Board of Directors, Nobex Corporation, told Pharmabiz in an email interview, "We now are seeking court approval for routine sale procedures typical of US bankruptcy cases. Such a process entails a marketing period, an auction among qualified bidders and a hearing to approve the final sale of the assets. At this very moment we are intensely in prosecuting the marketing phase of the process."

An opening bid of $ 3.5 million has been received from Biocon Limited. "It is inappropriate for me to comment upon, or to disclose the identity of potential bidder prospects. However, we are engaged now in active ongoing discussion with several interested prospects who are applying their resources in due diligence," he added.

In reply to the question, if a company (other than Biocon) acquires Nobex's IPR, is it going to affect Biocon in any way as Nobex has a licensing agreement for oral insulin research and what will be the impact on both Nobex and Biocon in this situation Dimmler answered, "We are unable to address these issues specifically. There are a number of agreements in place, and each party has rights under the agreements and under applicable law. The resolution of these issues is likely to be played out between the relevant parties following the conclusion of the final sale."

Nobex' core competence is its proprietary medicinal chemistry which constitutes a novel, powerful, and well-protected intellectual property estate. This core competence has very broad potential applications that run well beyond the present scope of the company's business strategy- oral delivery of therapeutic peptides.

Furthermore, in addition to the product candidates such as IN-105, Oratonin and APAZA, the company has other candidates too. For example, a reasonably extensive library of compounds known as 6MNA for inflammation; and a proprietary process for producing a compound known as Bicalutimide presently on the market for malignant prostate disease.

Replying to the question, will the final bidder for Nobex's assets be hiring back the research team that worked on various assets, Dimmler said that the decision was for the ultimate winner in the bidding process. The experience and skills of Nobex' research team would be crucial to enable the effective reduction to practice of the company's proprietary intellectual property and core competence.