Glenmark Pharmaceuticals S.A (GPSA), a wholly owned subsidiary of Glenmark Pharmaceuticals, has entered into an agreement with Forest Laboratories, Inc. to collaborate on the development of inhibitors to treat chronic inflammatory conditions, including pain.

The Mumbai-headquartered company anticipates a Phase 1 candidate in FY14.

Clinical candidates

Glenmark has identified clinical candidates and is currently conducting pre-clinical studies and other development activities required to support the initiation of first-in-human dosing.

Under the terms of the agreement, Forest is to make a $6 million upfront payment to Glenmark and provide an additional $3 million to support the next phase of work.

Forest will make other future payments in FY 2014 to support the advancement of the programme. Forest has an exclusive option to obtain license rights to the programme upon the completion of Phase 1 clinical trials.

Collaborations

“This collaboration reinforces our strategy of partnering to achieve our goal of launching innovative technologies around the world,” said Glenn Saldanha, Chairman and Managing Director, Glenmark Pharmaceuticals.

Forest continues to look for innovative ways to expand its broad pipeline including entering into early stage collaborations to secure access to novel products, Marco Taglietti, Senior Vice President of R&D and President of the Forest Research Institute said in a statement.

The deal provides Forest access to a novel programme focused on a high interest target that has the potential to benefit patients and physicians.

Joint committee

At the end of Phase 1, both Glenmark and Forest will continue to have a dialogue with Forest having a first right of negotiation on establishing a further collaboration agreement.

Both parties are to work collaboratively to advance the programme into clinics.

The collaboration between Glenmark and Forest will be managed by a joint development committee with equal representation from both companies.

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