Elgin's $250 million purchase of MSD CGRP migraine new drug project

Source: Biovalley, July 8, 2015, Allergan and MSD recently reached an exclusive license agreement, paying 250 million US dollars to buy the exclusive global right of MSD CGRP migraine development project The project includes two small oral calcitonin gene-related peptide (CGRP) receptor antagonists, which are currently being developed for the treatment and prevention of migraine The purchase of CGRP will strengthen the pipeline assets of Elgin's central nervous system and help establish the company's potential leadership in the field of acute migraine treatment and prevention CGRP is a sensory neuropeptide, which is thought to be related to vasodilation, inflammatory response and pain signals, and these are all thought to be related to the pathophysiology of migraine According to the terms of the agreement, half of the $250 million ($125 million) will be paid after passing the review of the Hart Scott rodino antitrust Improvement Act (HSR) of 1976, and the other half will be paid in April 2016 In addition, MSD will receive potential development and commercialization milestone payments, as well as a 2-digit royalty for post marketing sales of the drug Elgin will be fully responsible for the development of CGRP project and the production and commercialization of products This agreement enabled Elgin to obtain two CGRP receptor antagonists: (1) mk-1062, which is an oral small molecule antagonist for acute treatment of migraine At present, a phase II clinical trial of the drug has been completed After discussing phase II data with FDA, it will enter phase III clinical development The first phase III study is expected to start in 2016 (2) Mk-8031, an oral small molecule antagonist for migraine prevention, is expected to launch a phase II clinical trial in 2016 In fact, as early as 2011, the clinical development projects of two oral CGRP antagonists mk-9074 (telcagepant) and mk-3207 were terminated due to liver toxicity However, mk-1062 and mk-8031 are different from the former two, so far there is no evidence of liver toxicity in clinical Migraine is a common chronic neurovascular disease, which is characterized by recurrent severe headache, mostly laterally, lasting for 4-72 hours, often accompanied by nausea, vomiting, sound and light stimulation, visual changes; quiet environment and rest can alleviate migraine At present, there is no medicine to cure migraine In the United States, there are 36 million migraine patients, accounting for about 12% of the total population It is estimated that 38% of patients (4-30 days of migraine attack per month) can benefit from preventive treatment, but only 13% of patients use daily preventive migraine drugs, so there is a huge unmet medical demand in this field The WHO (WHO) has designated migraine as one of the 20 most disabling diseases.