Immune Pharmaceuticals signs licensing agreement for AmiKet

Immune Pharmaceuticals, Inc., said Monday it entered into a definitive license and research agreement with Yissum to license some Yissum's patents for the development and commercialization of a topical nano-formulated version of AmiKet.

AmiKet, a topical drug for the treatment of neuropathic pain, has undergone trials involving more than 1,700 patients demonstrating comparable effectiveness to the high dose of the oral standard of care, gabapentin in a double-blind, placebo-controlled Phase II clinical trial.

The neuropathic pain market is estimated at approximately $3.5 billion.

"We believe that the new formulation of AmiKet may increase value to potential commercial partners and to Immune,” Immune Pharmaceuticals CEO Daniel Teper said. “As a result of this agreement, we have had a number of discussions with potential partners over in the last two months, and some of these talks are advancing to the due diligence stage and terms negotiations. We believe that we may be able to better maximize revenues from AmiKet out-licensing through separate U.S. and EU transactions, and then by forging regional agreements in other territories."

The newly formulated nano-topical AmiKet has the potential to provide longer exclusivity up to 2036, allow for the development of multiple chronic pain indications and improve a product profile.