News

Autifony Therapeutics has announced that it has entered an exclusive global licensing agreement with Jazz Pharmaceuticals for up to $770.5m, with the intention of discovering and developing drug candidates to target two different ion channel targets associated with neurological disorders.

Autifony is expected to lead drug discovery and preclinical development activities on the targets, with Jazz leading all clinical development, manufacturing, regulatory activities and commercialisation.

Dr Charles Large, chief executive officer of Autifony Therapeutics, commented: “We are excited to be working with Jazz Pharmaceuticals on two novel ion channel targets, on which we can bring to bear Autifony’s long-standing expertise in small molecule ion channel drug discovery and development. Jazz has an exceptional track record of rapidly advancing neuroscience development programmes and effectively commercialising novel therapies that offer improvements over current standards of care. These programmes have the potential to bring groundbreaking benefits to patients in a range of indications.”

Under terms of this agreement, Autifony will receive an upfront payment from Jazz, as well as being eligible for development, regulatory and commercial milestone payments across two programmes. The combined value of these payments will be up to $770.5m, although Autifony is also eligible to receive royalties on future net sales.