$51M Licensing Pact, BrainCells and Proximagen Group
BrainCells Inc. has signed an agreement with Proximagen Group to acquire Sabcomeline, a clinical-stage muscarinic partial agonist that has potential in the treatment of various psychiatric and neurologic disorders.
Under the terms of the agreement, BrainCells will pay Proximagen an upfront fee and development and sales milestone payments together worth up to $51M, as well as a royalty on sales, for worldwide development and commercial rights to the compound. BrainCells plans to initiate a Phase 2 clinical trial to evaluate sabcomeline as augmentation to SSRIs for the treatment of patients with major depressive disorder (MDD). Improvements in cognitive function will also be measured.
In its evaluation of muscarinic agents as a novel approach to treat depression and cognition, BrainCells determined:
- Sabcomeline is highly neurogenic in vitro and active in several animal behavioral models,
- When Sabcomeline was combined with an on-market serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI) in animal behavioral models measuring effects on mood and cognition, it showed strong activity and increased neurogenesis, suggesting that there is a synergistic response,
- Sabcomeline has been shown to be safe and well tolerated in more than 3,000 patients,
- It has been studied in 6 Phase 3 efficacy studies in Alzheimer’s disease and 2 Phase 2 efficacy studies in schizophrenia.
BrainCells Inc is focused on neurogenesis by applying its proprietary human neural stem cell platform technology to identify novel pathways for new therapeutics to treat various central nervous system (CNS) diseases. Neurogenesis is the process by which stem cells in the adult human brain produce new brain tissue, including neurons. (www.braincellsinc.com)
Proximagen develops novel drugs and innovative new treatments for disorders of the central nervous system. Founded in 2003 as a spin-out from King’s College London (www.proximagen.com )
