Roche and Chiasma to ally on drug development

Roche has announced a new research alliance with fellow pharmaceutical company Chiasma on the development of a promising and versatile new therapy.

The collaboration will see the two companies working together to develop and commercialise Chiasma's proprietary product Octreolin, initially in an indication for acromegaly and later for neuroendocrine tumours.

An investigational oral form of the peptide octreotide, which is currently only available as an injection-based therapy, the new drug is presently in phase III testing as a therapy for acromegaly.

The deal would see Roche receive a worldwide exclusive licence for the drug, with Chiasma set to receive milestone-based payments of up to $530 million (342.04 million pounds).

Dr Hal Barron, Roche's global head of product development and chief medical officer, said: "If approved, Octreolin would be an important alternative for patients with acromegaly, a disorder that develops when a person's pituitary gland produces too much growth hormone."

This comes after the firm announced positive data last month from a phase III trial of obinutuzumab, a new therapy for chronic lymphocytic leukaemia.