BALTIMORE, MD--(Marketwire - May 27, 2011) - Cerecor Inc (“Cerecor,” or “the Company”) today announced the acquisition of intellectual property assets comprising the drug product candidate “FP01" from Fells Laboratories LLC (“Fells”), for the treatment of cough. FP01 is an oral drug product in use for another disease that has been administered chronically to more than 4.5 million patients worldwide. Given its unique mechanism of action, FP01 as currently used is notable for its lack of side effects and minimal abuse potential, issues that plague medicines currently available for treating cough.
Fells Labs licensed the FP01 intellectual property from the Johns Hopkins University. Dr. Brendan Canning, an Associate Professor at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine (“JHSOM”) and a recognized authority on cough, recently discovered the profound antitussive effects of FP01 in animals.
Under the terms of the agreement, after an upfront payment, additional consideration is to be paid to Fells upon milestone achievement. Cerecor CEO Dr. Blake Paterson stated, “This is the first leg of Cerecor’s fast track to become an operating pharmaceutical company that is focused on the discovery, development and commercialization of prescription pharmaceuticals whose primary activity is in the human brain.” The principals of Fells, Dr. Blake Paterson and Dr. Mark Ginski, have joined Cerecor as founding officers. “Our intellectual property (“IP”) portfolio consists of 4 patent applications which cover cough method-of-use, in addition to synergistic combinations and cough formulations of FP01 that enable its utility in cough and provide the opportunity to build a patented portfolio of new cough and cold products,” according to Dr. Ginski. “By means of this acquisition, Cerecor possesses the exclusive worldwide rights to develop and market FP01 in cough, and itself owns most of the formulation and combination IP,” stated Dr. Paterson. Management anticipates filing an Investigational New Drug application at year-end 2011 and preparing a 505(b)2 submission for the product to the FDA within the next 36 months.
About Cerecor: The Company is focused on translational medicine -- the accelerated transfer of technology from the academic laboratory to early human trials, with the goal of rapid commercialization of proprietary technology platforms.
About Fells Labs: Fells Laboratories was founded by Drs. Blake Paterson and Mark Ginski with the mission of commercializing FP01.
About Cough: Cough is a large and underserved condition for which > $5 billion in over-the-counter and prescription cold and cough products are purchased annually in the US, and yet there is little to no data to substantiate the benefits of currently available antitussives. Regulatory authorities worldwide are moving to curtail the availability of antitussives because of the growing problem of recreational antitussive abuse, especially amongst children. Consequently, there exists a large unmet medical need for safe and effective antitussives.
For further information, please contact: mginski@cerecor.com
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