AstraZeneca has been forced to write off an early-stage obesity drug, just weeks after an apparent allergic reaction sickened one of the 72 obese patients enrolled in a clinical study of the drug.
Palatin Technologies ($PTN) spread the word this morning that the pharma giant was dumping the program for AZD2820, the lead therapy to come out of their 5-year-old partnership AstraZeneca ($AZN). But the Cranbury, NJ-based Palatin insists that the two companies will continue to work together on other drugs involved in the pact.
The setback is the latest in a long string of clinical foul-ups that ultimately forced out AstraZeneca CEO David Brennan and triggered a restructuring of the R&D side of the business. AstraZeneca's focus now is on striking a series of new deals to replenish its pipeline with an emphasis on virtual programs that connects investigative teams, without big investments in bricks and mortar facilities.
AZD2820 is a peptide melanocortin-4 receptor partial agonist. When AstraZeneca signed on in 2007, the company paid $22 million and promised up to $230 million more in the deal. The patient in question recovered fully from the reaction, says Palatin. And AstraZeneca's work goes on.
"The AZD2820 compound is part of a broader research and development collaboration with AstraZeneca," says Dr. Carl Spana, the CEO of Palatin. "We have multiple classes of collaboration compounds in various stages of preclinical testing and AstraZeneca has informed us that they remain committed to the advancement of collaboration compounds for treatment of obesity."
Palatin shares slid about 8% this morning.
- here's the press release
Special Report: AstraZeneca - The Biggest R&D Spenders In Biopharma