Eisai Buys Out Purdue Rights to End Collaboration

TOKYO, May 1, 2019 - (JCN Newswire) - Eisai Co., Ltd. announces that its U.S. subsidiary Eisai Inc. has bought out Purdue Pharma L.P.'s rights in the worldwide collaboration for the development and commercialization of lemborexant, an investigational sleep-wake regulation agent being studied for the treatment of multiple sleep-wake disorders, including insomnia and irregular sleep-wake rhythm disorder (ISWRD) in patients with Alzheimer Disease. Eisai group will solely conduct the development and the commercialization of lemborexant globally.

Discovered by Eisai, lemborexant is an investigational dual orexin receptor antagonist. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) accepted the New Drug Application (NDA) for lemborexant for use in the treatment of insomnia disorders for review in March 2019 and set a Prescription Drug User Fee Act (PDUFA) date for December 27, 2019. For Japan, a marketing authorization application for lemborexant for use in the treatment of insomnia disorder has been submitted to the Pharmaceuticals and Medical Devices Agency (PMDA) in March 2019 and is currently under review. Furthermore, a Phase II clinical study of lemborexant for ISWRD in patients with Alzheimer's Disease is ongoing.

Through lemborexant, Eisai is striving to address unmet medical needs and contribute to further increasing the benefits for patients with sleep disorders and their families.

About Lemborexant

Lemborexant is a novel investigational small molecule compound, discovered and developed by Eisai in-house scientists, that inhibits orexin signaling by binding competitively to both orexin receptor subtypes (orexin receptor 1 and 2). In individuals with normal daily sleep-wake rhythms, orexin signaling is believed to promote periods of wakefulness. In individuals with sleep-wake disorders, it is possible that orexin signaling that regulates wakefulness is not functioning normally, suggesting that inhibiting inappropriate orexin signaling may enable initiation and maintenance of sleep. Additionally, a Phase 2 clinical study of lemborexant in patients with irregular sleep-wake rhythm disorder (ISWRD) and mild to moderate Alzheimer's dementia is underway.

About Eisai

Eisai Co., Ltd. is a leading global research and development-based pharmaceutical company headquartered in Japan. We define our corporate mission as "giving first thought to patients and their families and to increasing the benefits health care provides," which we call our human health care (hhc) philosophy. With approximately 10,000 employees working across our global network of R&D facilities, manufacturing sites and marketing subsidiaries, we strive to realize our hhc philosophy by delivering innovative products in various therapeutic areas with high unmet medical needs, including Neurology and Oncology.

Furthermore, we invest and participate in several partnership-based initiatives to improve access to medicines in developing and emerging countries.

For more information about Eisai Co., Ltd., please visit www.eisai.com

Contact:

 Public Relations Department Eisai Co., Ltd. +81-(0)3-3817-5120 



Source: Eisai
Eisai (TSE: 4523)
Topic: Press release summary
Sectors: BioTech, HealthCare
http://www.acnnewswire.com
From the Asia Corporate News Network

Back to news