Wyeth buys rights for new pain medication

Wyeth Pharmaceuticals, a division of Wyeth, has announced that it has bought the global rights to develop and market an experimental pain drug from the Japanese pharmaceutical company Mochida.

The new drug candidate is part of a new class of pain medications called TRPV1 antagonists, reports Reuters.

Under the terms of the agreement, Mochida will receive an upfront payment following the signing of the contract as well as receiving developmental milestone payments.

Akiko Oyamo, a spokesperson for Mochida, indicated that the one-time payment received from Wyeth was not likely to have a major impact on the company’s earnings outlook.

She went on to highlight that other companies which were developing TRPV1 antagonists included Eli Lilly and Merck, Sharp and Dohme, although none of the candidates have been brought to market at present.

Mochida will retain the option of jointly developing and marketing the drug with Wyeth in Japan.

Last month, Elan and Wyeth Pharmaceuticals announced the dosing of the first patient in their phase III clinical study of bapineuzumab (AAB-001) as a treatment for patients with mild to moderate forms of Alzheimer’s disease.