Novo Nordisk licenses rights to haemostasis therapy

Novo Nordisk has signed a global license agreement with Inserm, the French national institute for health and medical research and French biotechnology firm C2X Pharma for the rights to a potentially new haemostasis therapy.

The company will explore the potential of thrombin-activable factor X to become a new treatment for critical bleeding conditions including haemophilia, with the compound being a new type of bypassing agent that can propagate blood clotting independently of factors VIII and IX.

Discovered by Professor Martine Aiach, Dr Benard Le Bonniec, Dr Pierre-Emmanuel Marque together with their team at the Unit Insertm 428 facility at Rene Descartes University, the compound has been progressed to its current stage of early pre-clinical development by C2X Pharma.

“The agreement supports Novo Nordisk’s ambition to expand its portfolio of projects within haemophilia and haemostasis through partnerships with biotech companies and research institutions around the world,” the company reports.

In June 2007, Novo Nordisk announced the start of a phase I trial of GlycoPEGylated factor VIIa, a version of NovoSeven Coagulation Factor VIIa (recombinant) together with Neose Technologies.

The trial was designed to assess the pharmokinetics and safety of the compound, while the initiation of the study triggered a milestone payment between the two companies.