Savient acquires AD rights

Savient Pharmaceuticals has acquired exclusive rights from Marco Hi-Tech(Marco), to exclusively market in the United States and Europe Huperzine-A, a product for the treatment of Alzheimer's disease.

Research undertaken at Walter Reed Army Medical Research Institute has shown that Huperzine-A decreases neuronal cell death caused by toxic levels of glutamate, which is associated with Alzheimer's disease. Huperzine-A is believed to inhibit acetylcholinesterase and enhance cholinergic neurotransmissions. Products on the market for the treatment of Alzheimer's disease such as Aricept are acetylcholinesterase inhibtors.

Based on safety data already generated in a Phase I study, to be supplemented by data anticipated from an extension study about to be completed, a Phase II Huperzine-A clinical trial, that will be substantially funded by a National Institutes of Health grant, is being planned. If, upon completion of the Phase II study, Savient elects to proceed with further development of Huperzine-A, it will conduct and fund Phase III clinical trials. Upon commercialization, Savient will exclusively market the product in the licensed territories.

Savient acquired the rights to Huperzine-A through an equity investment in Marco. Specific terms of the transaction have not been disclosed.

Sim Fass, chairman and ceo of Savient, commented: 'Our investment in a promising compound for Alzheimer's disease, a devastating condition believed to affect some four million individuals in the United States alone, provides us with the right, following Phase II, to conduct Phase III studies and to exclusively market the drug in the United States and Europe. The acquisition of rights to Huperzine-A strengthens our corporate commitment to the field of neurological medicine that began with our acquisition of Prosaptide.'

Savient is developing several proprietary drugs, among them Prosaptide, a nerve growth factor peptide for peripheral neuropathic pain, in Phase II, Puricase for intractable gout, in Phase I, and BTG-271, an anti-leukaemia agent in pre-clinical development.