Serodus licenses selective serotonin-4 antagonist for potential heart failure treatment from Roche

Dec 10 2010

Serodus AS (Serodus) today announced that it has entered into a license agreement with Roche (SIX:RO) (SIX:ROG) (OTCQX:RHHBY) for a selective serotonin-4 (5-HT₄) antagonist for the potential treatment of heart failure (RO1160367).

“Finding partners such as Serodus who bring their own scientific insights to the development of Roche compounds is an important part of our partnering strategy. Through out-licensing deals like this, the high quality work carried out by Roche scientists can be continued, potentially providing significant benefits to patients.”

Serodus, a Norwegian biopharmaceutical company dedicated to the development of innovative compounds for cardiovascular diseases, has in-licensed RO1160367, a drug candidate ready to enter a clinical Phase II Proof-of-Concept study in heart failure.

Eva Steiness, M.D., Chief Executive Officer of Serodus, said, "We are excited about this opportunity to work with the excellent Roche compound. This agreement will enable Serodus to move its heart failure programme directly into the clinic without waiting for our own preclinical development."

Dan Zabrowski, Ph.D., Global Head of Roche Partnering, commented, "Finding partners such as Serodus who bring their own scientific insights to the development of Roche compounds is an important part of our partnering strategy. Through out-licensing deals like this, the high quality work carried out by Roche scientists can be continued, potentially providing significant benefits to patients."

Under the Agreement, Serodus will receive the full preclinical and clinical documentation for RO1160637. In return, Roche will receive an upfront payment as well as be entitled to receive development, regulatory and commercial milestone payments. Roche is also eligible to receive royalties on sales of products commercialized under the license. Serodus has been granted the exclusive development, manufacturing and worldwide marketing and sale rights with the rights to sub-license. In certain cases, Roche has a right to negotiate to regain the product rights.

5-HT₄ antagonists in heart failure

Researchers at the University of Oslo (Prof. Levy and co-workers) discovered the presence of 5-HT₄ receptors on muscle cells in failing cardiac ventricles and that a failing cardiac ventricle expresses 5-HT4 receptors as a response to the serious condition.

The effect of 5-HT₄ antagonists in heart failure has been demonstrated in rat and man and therefore, remains an important area for research and development of suitable treatments.

Serodus will utilize its proprietary know-how to optimize and develop the compound under the name SER101 to establish clinical Proof-of-Concept for the indication heart failure, addressing a market worth more than USD 5 billion annually.