Ipsen and Santhera to jointly develop Parkinson’s drug

Ipsen is allying with Santhera Pharmaceuticals on the development of a new drug for the treatment of levodopa-induced dyskinesia among Parkinson's disease sufferers.

The licence agreement will see Ipsen gain the rights to commercialise the new treatment fipamezole in territories outside North America and Japan, with Santhera receiving an upfront fee and milestone payments.

Fipamezole functions as an antagonist of the adrenergic alpha-2 receptor and is scheduled to enter phase III testing next year by Biovail, the company which holds the North American marketing rights.

It is hoped that the drug will prove to be the first viable treatment for dyskinesia, a debilitating condition which can limit the efficacy of Parkinson's therapy.

Stephane Thiroloix, Ipsen's executive vice-president for corporate development, said: "This agreement with Santhera will further enrich Ipsen's pipeline with a new promising first-in-class compound thus complementing our fast-growing neurology franchise, in clear medical and operational synergy with our existing portfolio."

Last week, Ipsen published its financial report for the first half of 2010, reporting a year-on-year sales growth of 6.3 per cent.