OptiBiotix Health plc (AIM: OPTI), a life sciences business developing compounds to tackle obesity, high cholesterol and diabetes, announces that it has entered into an agreement with a US company (“The Company”) for the use of its cholesterol reducing Lactobacillus plantarum strain as a pharmaceutical drug product.
The agreement grants The Company an exclusive license in return for it taking responsibility for all development, pre-clinical and human clinical testing, regulatory filings and approvals, product manufacture, marketing, and product sales in the US Therapeutics market. OptiBiotix will be responsible for the manufacture of its Lactobacillus plantarum strain to pharmaceutical drug standards. The Company has an option, conditional on certain development milestones and further payments, to obtain a worldwide license (excluding India and Pakistan) under the same conditions.
OptiBiotix will receive a six figure payment from The Company at signing and at two subsequent conditional milestones, amounts totalling a seven-figure sum. An additional six-figure sum, plus royalties on future product sales, are due on product launch. There is an additional seven-figure payment should The Company decide to exercise its option at any point.
The Company requires its identity and the terms of the agreement to remain confidential to protect its commercial interests and no further details can be disclosed. Further announcement will be made in due course.
Stephen O’Hara, CEO of OptiBiotix, commented: “We are pleased to announce this agreement which extends the opportunities provided by OptiBiotix’s cholesterol reducing Lactobacillus plantarum strain into the high value pharmaceutical drug market. The agreement allows our US partner to develop our strain as a pharmaceutical drug product in return for upfront, development and product launch milestones payments, plus royalties on future product sales. This is a substantive investment by our US partner which recognises the potential of our strain and the scale of the opportunity in one of the largest and fastest growing markets around the world.”