a clinical stage biopharmaceutical company developing innovative inhaled therapies to address serious pulmonary diseases, announced that it has entered into a licensing and development agreement with the Lung Cancer Initiative at Johnson & Johnson*. Through the agreement, the Lung Cancer Initiative gains an option to access a portfolio of narrow spectrum kinase inhibitors intended for development in lung cancer interception.
“Pulmatrix’s iSPERSE™ platform has the ability to enhance the safety and efficacy profile of promising drug candidates,” said Ted Raad, Chief Executive Officer of Pulmatrix. “We applied the iSPERSE™ technology to RV1162/PUR1800, the lead in-licensed inhibitor and helped unlock its clinical potential by improving the product’s profile from the original formulation. In 2020, we anticipate clinical data from the first of these inhibitors in a disease area with significant unmet medical need. We look forward to collaborating with the Lung Cancer Initiative at Johnson & Johnson as we advance this important program. Additionally, in 2020, we anticipate data from our phase 2 Pulmazole program and we plan to introduce new proprietary, wholly owned iSPERSE enabled 505(b)(2) assets to our pipeline.”
Under the terms of the agreement, the Lung Cancer Initiative will pay a $7.2 million upfront payment and an additional $2 million milestone payment upon completion of the ongoing Phase 1b study of RV1162/PUR1800 in stable COPD patients, on-track for year-end 2020. If the Lung Cancer Initiative exercises the option on RV1162/PUR1800 and the portfolio of these kinase inhibitors, Pulmatrix is eligible for up to $91M in additional development and commercial milestones, as well as royalty payments.
About Pulmatrix
Pulmatrix is a clinical stage biopharmaceutical company developing innovative inhaled therapies to address serious pulmonary disease using its patented iSPERSE™ technology. The Company’s proprietary product pipeline is focused on advancing treatments for serious lung diseases, including Pulmazole, an inhaled anti-fungal for patients with allergic bronchopulmonary aspergillosis (“ABPA”), and PUR1800, a narrow spectrum kinase inhibitor for patients with obstructive lung diseases including asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (“COPD”). Pulmatrix’s product candidates are based on iSPERSE™, its proprietary engineered dry powder delivery platform, which seeks to improve therapeutic delivery to the lungs by maximizing local concentrations and reducing systemic side effects to improve patient outcomes.
