Teva Pharmaceutical and Heptares Therapeutics have entered an agreement to discover and develop new small-molecule calcitonin gene-related peptide (CGRP) antagonists to treat migraines.
Under the deal, Teva will receive exclusive global rights to develop, manufacture and commercialise new CGRP antagonists discovered by Heptares.
The deal will see Heptares receive an upfront payment of $10m, research funding, and is eligible to receive additional research, development and commercialisation milestone payments of up to $400m.
In addition, Heptares will be eligible to receive royalties on net sales of products resulting from the agreement.
Teva Global R&D president and chief scientific officer Michael Hayden said: "We are delighted to begin this partnership with Heptares, which through its industry-leading, structure-based design approach has generated novel CGRP antagonists with significant promise for treating migraine.
"CGRP antagonism represents an exciting opportunity to treat migraine. We believe small-molecule CGRP antagonists offer further opportunities that are highly complementary to our promising candidate, TEV-48125, an anti-CGRP antibody."
CGRP is released during migraine attacks and can trigger migraine in patients, while it is found in small to medium-sized neurons in the trigeminal ganglion and mediates its activity through G protein-coupled receptors located throughout the body.
Increased levels of CGRP are found in migraineurs during an attack and blocking CGRP activity is a validated mechanism of action for relieving pain as well to prevent migraine.
Heptares chief executive officer Malcolm Weir said: "This agreement is an exciting development for our CGRP antagonist programme.
"Teva brings world-leading clinical and commercial expertise in migraine to advance this programme based on differentiated small-molecule CGRP antagonists discovered using our novel structure-based drug design technologies. The commitment Teva is making allows us to expand this promising programme."
