ZIOPHARM, Inc. has entered into a two-year research collaboration agreement with the Southern Research Institute of Birmingham, Alabama to develop a series of IPM (isophosphoramide mustard) analogs. In conjunction with the research agreement, ZIOPHARM also signed a two-year option agreement to enter into an exclusive worldwide License Agreement for these novel alkylating agents. A patent covering these analogs has issued in the United States, the company announced here.

ZIOPHARM, in November 2004, had secured an exclusive worldwide license to a proprietary form of IPM (ZIO-201) from DEKK-Tec, Inc. of New Orleans.

ZIO-201 is the stable active metabolite of ifosfamide, an alkylating drug. The Company believes that ZIO-201 will have a significant safety advantage over ifosfamide. ZIO-201 has also been shown to be active in several ifosfamide- and cyclophosphamide-resistant tumours. Data from cancer cell lines and animal models indicate that the IPM analogs may have a different pharmacologic and activity profile from ZIO-201, and form the basis for the planned preclinical collaboration.

"This agreement, structured as a research collaboration and option, significantly strengthens our intellectual property and offers strategic options for IPM success while maintaining our current focus on the expedited clinical development of ZIO-201", commented Richard Bagley, president and COO of ZIOPHARM. "As with ZIO-101/102 and the other licensed organic arsenicals, ZIO-201 and the IPM analogs are a product family offering multiple registration paths and commercialization alternatives-what we like to call multiple and timely shots on goal," he added.

ZIOPHARM may exercise its right to enter into the already negotiated License Agreement at any time during the two-year option period. Terms of the License Agreement, if exercised, would include milestone payments and a royalty. If the Option is not exercised, all rights to the analogs return to Southern Research Institute, the company release said here.