Valeant and GSK announce retigabine agreement

Valeant Pharmaceuticals and GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) have announced a worldwide collaboration agreement for retigabine.

Under the terms of the deal, GSK will pay Valeant an initial sum of $125 million (68.4 million pounds) and be eligible for additional landmark payments of up to $545 million based upon the attainment of specified regulatory, development and marketing milestones.

Valeant will share up to half of net profits in the US, Australia, Canada, New Zealand and Puerto Rico, while it will receive up to a 20 per cent royalty on net sales elsewhere in the world.

GSK will acquire the worldwide development and commercialisation rights to retigabine and VRX698 in addition to other back-up compounds from the potassium channel opener discovery programme.

The companies claim retigabine could mark potentially significant progress in the treatment of epilepsy.

J Michael Pearson, chairman and chief executive officer of Valeant, said: “We were pleased with the significant interest shown in retigabine and we have selected GSK as a collaborator because we believe they are ideally suited and strongly committed to the continued development of this important compound.”

He added the expertise of GSK and its robust commercial infrastructure will be vital to maximising the potential of the compound.

In May 2008, Valeant completed its Restore 2 phase III epilepsy programme for retigabine.